Classic Radio Special - the end of the Golden Age of Radio

September 30, 1962, the last of the Golden Age of Radio. 

The Final episode of Suspense, broadcast at 7:05pm Sunday, September 30, 1962, 63 years ago, Devilstone.  An Irishman goes to investigate his haunted house, with unexpected results.   Christopher Carey and  Neil Fitzgerald star.

Followed by Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar starring Mandel Kramer, broadcast at 7:35, Sunday, September 30, 1962, 63 years ago.  A convict in the state prison is about to die. He has a final "thank you" for Johnny for helping his kid brother get a start in life. There's still the matter of $100,000 from the convict's last safe robbery.  (That $100K would be over $1.069 Million today!)   Ironically, the gas station kid knew who Johnny Dollar was, but it didn't matter, as CBS ended the show anyway. 

Finally, Orson Welles Commentary, broadcast September 30, 1945, 80 years ago.  The aircheck from KECA Radio (Now KABC) gave listeners a look at what radio would become - a medium of primarily news and commentary.   The broadcast originates from Orson's home in Brentwood. Eddie Cantor introduced a new cast member on his show (Thelma Carpenter) without mentioning that she's colored. What did Eisenhower say to General Patton? We'll never know for sure. Many Roosevelt staffers are leaving the Truman administration. The main British problem is getting enough to eat. Orson answers a critic in Weehawken, New Jersey. He then tells the story of, "Bonito," the fighting bull. It's a great story, told beautifully by Orson.  No doubt, Welles was as good at commentary as he was at acting.  

Thanks for supporting our podcast by using the Buy Me a Coffee function at http://classicradio.stream

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Now the greatest radio shows of all time.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Suspense, Shadow, Node Washington calling David Honey, count.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
As my classic radios, Theater.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
The Great Eldest Lade, Leapa McGhee and Molly Dragon Guns,
Lone Ranger.

Speaker 4 (00:29):
Now step back into a time machine. Is your host
Wyatt Cox?

Speaker 5 (00:34):
Good evening friend, Leona Tango.

Speaker 4 (00:39):
Well, this is a sad day. It was sixty three
years ago today that what we laughingly refer to as
the Golden age of radio died in over the air radio.
We think about that, we picture families around the living
room set listening to The Lone Ranger, Bibber and Molly

(01:02):
and Suspense. But by the early fifties something happening, Radio's
brightest lights moving across the living room to the television set.
Comedy leading the way, Jack Benny George and Gracie Lucio Ball.
They made the leap, often bringing their radio characters directly

(01:23):
to the screen, sometimes with the same name, sometimes different names.
Audiences didn't just hear the punchline anymore. They could see
the reaction, the raised eyebrowed, the pratt bomb. TV added
a new dimension, a different dimension to comedy. Viewers embraced it.

(01:45):
The people ingesting the program missed out creating the images
in their own head. Drama followed a slower path. Anthology
series Playhouse ninety Studio carried radio storytelling traditions into TV,
offering live drama that felt just as intimate. It's the

(02:08):
old broadcast, but now you saw the pictures instead of
making them in your own head. Programs like Dragnet proved
police procedurals could thrive in both mediums, first capturing imagination
through sound effects but then gripping viewers with Jack Webbs
no nonsense stairs. By the late fifties into the early sixties,

(02:31):
TV the undisputed home for mass entertainment. Radio didn't disappear.
It reinvented itself, shifting toward music, news and talk. The
big scripted comedies and dramas, though, became the thing of television.
America witnessed not just the not the death of radio,

(02:54):
but its transformation. While TV inherited the mantle of storytelling,
forever changing the way we experienced both comedy and drama,
radio became something different. It became a viewpoint in the
best places. It became America's back fence where everybody chatted

(03:17):
with one another, where it became the breaking news source,
and it didn't always happen the way we wanted. We
are going to hear in the next hour and fifteen
minutes the final two shows of radio's golden age, and

(03:40):
we will begin that. Oh and c I'll talk about CBS,
but first let's listen to this episode of Suspense as
it was broadcast sixty three years ago.

Speaker 6 (03:53):
We'll hear that next, the broadcasts of Radio Free Europe
and Radio Free Asia strike through the Iron Curtain, bringing
the truth about the free world.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
The captive people's behind it help send a message by giving.

Speaker 7 (04:13):
To the nineteen fifty two Crusade for freedom.

Speaker 4 (04:16):
CBS was the final purveyor of the big radio shows.
They moved all the production out of Hollywood, where all
the stars were, back to New York City where it
could be handled under the auspices of the fellow who
ran the game show division, who was a game show producer,

(04:40):
Bruno Zerrato Junior. And if you watch any of the
early nineteen sixties game shows on a buzzer or other places,
you'll see his name pop up as a producer. And
he ended up being the one responsible for the shows.

(05:00):
And you heard a lot of lesser known old radio
talent who hadn't moved to Hollywood, and you would hear
a lot of Broadway people. That's what you'll hear day
in this episode of suspense, the final episode from sixty
three years ago. This was September thirtieth, nineteen sixty two,

(05:23):
at seven five Eastern Time, and the episode entitled Devilstone.

Speaker 8 (05:32):
And Now a Tale well calculated to keep you in
suspense in a moment Act one of Devilstone, starring Christopher
Carrey and Neil Fitzgerald, and written especially for suspense by
Jonathan Bundy. This portion of suspense is brought to you

(05:52):
by the makers of Parliament Cigarettes. Listen, More and more
people are smoking this tune every day.

Speaker 9 (06:02):
Parliament gives you the extra largest Parliament gives you extra Largin.

Speaker 10 (06:09):
Makes you say meet to clean.

Speaker 9 (06:11):
Corner is away in Parliament gives you ext The largest.

Speaker 8 (06:15):
Parliament gives your net.

Speaker 7 (06:19):
You're slapping clean.

Speaker 8 (06:39):
My name is Martin, Timothy Martin. I live here in Dublin,
and very nicely too, thanks to a considerable inheritance and
sale of the family estate in County Kilkenny, which bought
a very good price. I have a comfortable cottage a
faithful man seman by the name of Evatts, and everything
else I need to live an easy, contented life and
without the need of applying myself to any sort of labor.

(07:01):
Even my financial matters are no bother tom either handled
by a penny pinsion old solicitor by the name of
Ian Carney. And mine was a contented life until that is,
until a long forgotten uncle died and left me some
property he'd own but never lived on up in County
for mana near on up in County for mana near
inner Skillen, a place known as Devil's Stone. And then,

(07:26):
but let me digress for a moment, I should say,
let me seem to digress for a moment, and remember
this please, for it may have much to do with
a strange, terrifying tale I'm about to tell you, Deep Ander,
Saint Michan's Church here in Dublin is a crypt. It
possesses most amazing properties. In it lie scores of bodies

(07:47):
in a state of perfect preservation, albeit they are hundreds
of years old. And the old ones used to say
it's due to some wondrous form of black magic. But
modern science, modern chemistry, has exploded that ancient belief has
shown that certain gases generated by the unusual composition of
the dark, dank earth in which the crypt is located.

(08:08):
But those gases have produced this amazing phenomenon very well. Now.
A few days ago I called mister Corney, my solicitor,
on the telephone.

Speaker 11 (08:17):
I've been hoping at Connie, Timothy, I wish to speak
with you about that house and.

Speaker 12 (08:21):
Property in County Fermana that your uncle left you.

Speaker 8 (08:24):
Well, I suddenly no desire to move away from Dublin,
mister Conney, So I've decided to rent out the old place.

Speaker 7 (08:29):
Rent it out?

Speaker 8 (08:30):
And why not, sir? You really think you can, well,
I'm quite certain I can.

Speaker 12 (08:35):
I doubt it. Well.

Speaker 8 (08:36):
As a matter of fact, an American couple by the
name of Stoker left here only yesterday for a look
at it. I see, I expect they'll be back here
a moment now to agree to lease it for the summer.

Speaker 11 (08:45):
Timothy, you showed them the pictures and description of the
place yesterday morning.

Speaker 8 (08:52):
They were so intrigued by them they were all for
signing a lease then and there.

Speaker 11 (08:56):
You'd better to have taken their money and let them
do it.

Speaker 8 (08:59):
My boy, Oh, I well, I'm sure I don't see why. Well,
surely they're entitled to look at the place over before
they take it, after all, mister Kearney never haven't been
there myself. There wasn't too much I could tell him
about Devils.

Speaker 12 (09:10):
Stone, exactly as it should be.

Speaker 8 (09:12):
Timothy, I'm afraid I don't understand you, sir.

Speaker 9 (09:16):
I mean that now, my boy.

Speaker 11 (09:18):
You will never rint it to them, not to anyone
else who goes there.

Speaker 8 (09:21):
Why not? Now why do you say that, mister Kearney, Well, yeah,
you don't know. Well, of course I don't know.

Speaker 11 (09:30):
Then perhaps your tenants, I should say, erstwhile prospective tenants
will tell you if you ever see them again.

Speaker 8 (09:38):
Now what do you mean by excuse me a moment,
mister Conney?

Speaker 3 (09:41):
Yes, what is it?

Speaker 13 (09:42):
Everts, I beg your Pardson, But there's a mister Stoker
here to see you. Soker, Yes, sir, and if I
may say so, it appears to be quite excited about
something rather angry. Shall I tell him you're busy and
suggest to see you another time?

Speaker 8 (09:56):
Timothy? Yes? No, Everts haven't come in.

Speaker 13 (09:59):
Please said hello hello Tabooh.

Speaker 8 (10:01):
Sorry, mister Ghani, but I've someone here to see me.

Speaker 11 (10:04):
No about devil Stones.

Speaker 8 (10:05):
I think I better call you back very well if
you like.

Speaker 11 (10:09):
But there is something about devil Stone. It's history that
you might not be cognizant of.

Speaker 8 (10:14):
Hi, will I'll get back to you shortly. Timothy a
goodvis her.

Speaker 14 (10:18):
Well, at least you didn't try to skip out on.

Speaker 8 (10:20):
Me, mister Stoker. How are you nice to see you again? Oh?
It is eh? But did you and your wife get
over to look at Devil's Stone as your plan?

Speaker 15 (10:27):
We certainly did.

Speaker 14 (10:29):
And my heaven, Martin, if this is your idea, some
practical joke, my wist. Sending me alone to that ungodly
place would have.

Speaker 8 (10:35):
Been bad enough.

Speaker 14 (10:36):
But my wife, Martin, you want to be horsewhiped. Now
wait please, I'll have you know that as a result
of your having let her go there, You and your
twisted sense of humor, what what does the matter with you?

Speaker 8 (10:47):
Anyway?

Speaker 14 (10:48):
The poor woman nearly went out of her.

Speaker 8 (10:49):
Mind, mister Stoker. He still hasn't.

Speaker 6 (10:51):
Recovered from it.

Speaker 14 (10:53):
Sure, sure, I got her back to Dublin, all right,
But the daughter's ordered to bed, had to give her
strong sedatives. Now I want, young man, if she doesn't recover,
don't bother Martin. The less you say, the less I
have to see of.

Speaker 8 (11:06):
You from here on out, the better. Here Here are
the keys so that that place.

Speaker 14 (11:11):
Now look here, mister goodbye Martin. If I ever see
you again, it will be in a court of law.

Speaker 8 (11:16):
And believe me, mister Stoke, I don't know what you're
talking about. What are you upset about? Oh you don't, eh?
Do you mean to say that's something something wrong with Devilstone?
And do you mean to say that you the owner
of it don't know? We don't know what, sir.

Speaker 14 (11:30):
You don't know that ungodly places haunted?

Speaker 8 (11:32):
What you heard me haunted? I positively right haunted. But
that's what he said, mister Matt Hunt, Yes, that's what

(11:52):
he said. Oh, dear dear big your patterns so really
really it's two amusing, all right, Everts, you go right
ahead and laugh and I'll join you. Well, that's about
an assurd excuse i've ever heard. Excuse me, sir, you
don't think he meant it. But the devil Stone is haunted?
How could he haunted? Houses went out of fashion a
hundred years ago? No, Everts, it was simply a silly

(12:15):
excuse for not leasing the place, but now that he
and his wife have had a look at it. But
what an excuse? But does he think that we Irish
are nothing but a lot of stupid, superstitious idiots?

Speaker 13 (12:24):
Why is right, sir?

Speaker 8 (12:25):
What I mean? Of course, not, sir, For anyhow, it's
completely ridiculous. So we'll simply forget it, forget about the stokers,
place an advertisement in the papers, and find ourselves some
other tenants. Yes, sir, maybe we'd best reduce the rate
on it a bit. Perhaps that's what scared them off.
Now that could be, sir, or who knows. And perhaps
Devilstone isn't in as good condition as we've been led

(12:46):
to believe. But can you imagine anyone coming up with
an excuse so patently absurd, so completely asinine, and so
utterly foolish, and expecting us to believe him, to take
him seriously?

Speaker 13 (12:59):
Yes, what is it, sir? Everts the truth?

Speaker 9 (13:05):
Now?

Speaker 15 (13:05):
Yes?

Speaker 8 (13:07):
Do you believe? Do you think? Possibly?

Speaker 9 (13:11):
Oh?

Speaker 8 (13:12):
No, no, of course not. It couldn't be And it
could that have been what mister Kearney was talking about,
or at least implying mister Kenney was solicitous there. But
mister Kenney seems to be a man of good sense.
He was so definite about it, though, and when he
told me I should have let them do what they
wanted after they saw the pictures to sign a lease.

Speaker 13 (13:32):
Immediately before they even saw a different store.

Speaker 8 (13:35):
Yes, as they would have, you know, it would have
signed and paid a couple of months rent. And mister
Kearney said I was wrong in not letting them do
it and not getting what I could and immediately that
would have been Would it have been completely ethically?

Speaker 9 (13:47):
No?

Speaker 8 (13:48):
Do you mean if something is wrong with the place
but haunted sir? No, no, of course, not ridiculous, of course.
And yet well there's one way to find out.

Speaker 13 (13:57):
Yes, she'll let me in the car to mister Carney's.

Speaker 12 (14:00):
No, no, no, no.

Speaker 8 (14:00):
By doing that, I'd admit that I might believe in
such ridiculous possibility. No, no, everts, You and I will
drive up to Devilstone and we'll investigate ourselves.

Speaker 13 (14:08):
Capitals are a splendid ideals.

Speaker 8 (14:10):
How you like it?

Speaker 13 (14:11):
Well, never having seen the place after mister Stoker's reaction
to it, it might be quite exciting, sir.

Speaker 8 (14:18):
Let's see now, if we leave right away, we should
be able to reach Devilstone by nightfall. Yes, sir, as
I watched the car and a couple of flashlights too.
Very good, sir, And perhaps perhaps i'd better take along
a pistol left in case, and of course, to conduct
our investigation in the ghostly place and style, we'll take
along one of the dogs with us, say Red Kim

(14:39):
of Hellscote.

Speaker 13 (14:40):
An excellent idea, sir.

Speaker 8 (14:42):
Now let's get underway, Yes, sir, well, Evertts, the man
of the petrol station told us right the Rabbinole mansion
you now see before you is Devilstone.

Speaker 10 (15:01):
Yes, I see.

Speaker 8 (15:04):
You know what kind of reaction is that.

Speaker 9 (15:07):
I blew my.

Speaker 13 (15:08):
Old place, if I may say so?

Speaker 8 (15:09):
So, now, don't you start conjuring up some ghosts.

Speaker 13 (15:17):
Even came up here, and he finds nothing particularly friendly
about it.

Speaker 8 (15:21):
Now, look, if you're going to become superstitious about Devilstone,
oh no, sir, come along, we'll have a look at it.
Come along, Kim, come away. Now, let me see if
I can unlock this door. Yes, here, I hold a

(15:42):
flash on it. Faire, I believe this is the key. Well,
the door is already a jar.

Speaker 10 (15:54):
Why you, sir, so I see?

Speaker 8 (16:00):
Well, come along, you two come on, Jack, he's protesting. Rather,
we'll just get him inside and we'll close the door.
Yes him, what the devil's the matter with you? I'll
come now? Boy, are you a dog or a mouse

(16:23):
who certainly is frightened or something?

Speaker 9 (16:25):
So?

Speaker 8 (16:26):
Yes, he doesn't look like a ghost hunter. Clouch down
there in the corner that way.

Speaker 13 (16:31):
And if I remember the pictures correctly, this door here
should lead to a small out and close courts.

Speaker 8 (16:42):
My bod guys, just another night bird evids. Don't let
it bother you. Now do your mind when telling me?

Speaker 15 (16:49):
Why why did you do that?

Speaker 10 (16:51):
I beg your pardon?

Speaker 12 (16:53):
What way?

Speaker 8 (16:55):
You're still over there at the door, and you're I
distinctly felt something or someone bump against my shoulder.

Speaker 13 (17:03):
And I thought someone walked on past me.

Speaker 10 (17:08):
Look here, look here, mister Martin.

Speaker 8 (17:11):
Yes, what is it?

Speaker 10 (17:13):
In the morning? I appear in the court, but shining
your night on this, sir? Where mine is? Why?

Speaker 9 (17:22):
Why?

Speaker 12 (17:22):
Yes?

Speaker 8 (17:23):
Footprints but big ones and fresh do you see?

Speaker 16 (17:32):
More of them will be made even as we look
at him.

Speaker 8 (17:36):
No, I get this.

Speaker 10 (17:39):
Normal. They are to make.

Speaker 8 (17:42):
It impossible, I know, but you're right, you're right. I'm
back inside now and quickly now whatever is making those
footsteps can't follow.

Speaker 12 (18:01):
It.

Speaker 13 (18:01):
Urst feel a bit safer in here, No wonder Kim
is frightened.

Speaker 8 (18:08):
There are things like that going on? Then? Why and how.

Speaker 13 (18:17):
Do you suppose, sir that one of the old lamps
could be lighted?

Speaker 8 (18:22):
Well, if they have any oil in them, and it
shouldn't take us long to find out if they Oh no, no, no,
wait a minute, now what are we acting this way?

Speaker 9 (18:31):
For?

Speaker 8 (18:32):
It's trickery, that's all it is.

Speaker 13 (18:34):
It's trickery by whom, sir?

Speaker 10 (18:37):
And why?

Speaker 8 (18:38):
Well, that is something we shall have to find out.
Now where is Kim?

Speaker 9 (18:43):
Oh?

Speaker 8 (18:44):
There, he is still in the corner, right, do you suppose, sir?

Speaker 9 (18:50):
No?

Speaker 8 (18:51):
Nonsense? Whoever it was that scared Stoker and his wife
out of here is trying to scare us now and
I mean to find him out.

Speaker 13 (19:00):
Yes, but the dog, sir? And if it's true about them,
and then that there is.

Speaker 8 (19:05):
A ghost, nonsense, No, we'll just look about here where Now?
What's the matter.

Speaker 16 (19:19):
The door at the other endow? What behind you? It's
opening by yourself into a small room.

Speaker 8 (19:27):
Beyond a good Then we shall start our investigation in
that room. Well, are you coming? M a clumsy. Now,
you dropped your flashlight, But I.

Speaker 13 (19:50):
Didn't, sir, I didn't. It was knock those in the hand.
It's what, honest, honest it was. I swear it, sir.

Speaker 8 (20:02):
Now, eh, but don't be silly, go on back in
there and get it.

Speaker 13 (20:10):
I really rather not say, if you don't worry.

Speaker 16 (20:13):
Oh, oh the door, it's closed by yourself.

Speaker 10 (20:18):
I know we're locked in.

Speaker 8 (20:21):
Oh we are. Who did this? Who closed this door?

Speaker 17 (20:27):
Who's there?

Speaker 12 (20:29):
Who's there?

Speaker 10 (20:29):
I say, the same moment, but the same thing.

Speaker 8 (20:36):
What are you talking about, the same thing that.

Speaker 16 (20:39):
Took your shoulder, that made the footprints in the mud,
and that frightened poor Kim.

Speaker 8 (20:44):
So badly, and frightened you too well, I say, it's trickery, trickery,
it has to be. Who's doing this? Answer me? Answer me?

Speaker 15 (20:58):
You did this begun?

Speaker 8 (21:02):
Why your death.

Speaker 15 (21:07):
Begun?

Speaker 8 (21:10):
Yes? Yes, I guess we'd better, yes, sir, But no, no,
not a bit of it.

Speaker 10 (21:21):
She's in the name.

Speaker 8 (21:23):
No, we're going to stay right here, evants until we
find out this begun.

Speaker 10 (21:30):
No, no, no.

Speaker 8 (21:32):
Not until we learn just what's going on. And where's
that voice coming from. I've tried to warn you, they'll
try to scare us. That's all fright to scare us.

Speaker 18 (21:47):
Yes, yes, so that you leave this place. Why because
if you do not, you will suffer the same fate.

Speaker 19 (21:59):
As the Kim faith.

Speaker 8 (22:06):
What are you talking about?

Speaker 10 (22:09):
Look, sir, the door is opened.

Speaker 18 (22:12):
Yes, look in the light of the flash that was.

Speaker 8 (22:16):
Dropped in there.

Speaker 20 (22:19):
Kim Everts Everts, Kim is dead then, mister Martin, Oh please, sir,
I beg of you.

Speaker 8 (22:34):
Who did this? Who did this? Show yourself? Yes, I
will show myself.

Speaker 9 (22:48):
Oh what.

Speaker 8 (22:51):
Oh, look sir, out of thin air? Yes, yes, I
see him, mister mister Martin. Yes, yes, yes, it's all right.

Speaker 13 (22:59):
Or I believe.

Speaker 8 (23:01):
Come along, Evers, come on, yes, yeah, yeah, yes, mister Connie.
I thought at first it was trickery, or perhaps some
kind of joint hallucination by Everts and myself, be uced
perhaps by the gloomy atmosphere of the old house and
whatever it was that Stoker had said about his wife
and her being so terrifying, Oh my boy. But when

(23:22):
it actually happened that he actually appeared there before us,
out of thin air, this misty, tenuous, impalpable figure. And
then when we found there wasn't so much as a
little mark on Kim and the dog, who up to
that moment had been as healthy as I. But why
didn't you tell me about whatever it is and that
that inhabits that place? And I talked to you on
the phone.

Speaker 21 (23:42):
I tried to Timothy, but you cut me off. And
after all, I'd known about it only as a legend
from hearsay.

Speaker 8 (23:49):
And he was a huge man and powerful, this ghost.

Speaker 21 (23:52):
Yes, I should say it was Jason O'Flynn, your ancestor,
who built the place for his wife. It was to
have been her castle, was, yes, But the first day
she sought to enter into it, she fell tripped upon
the threshold, she struck her head, and she never regained consciousness.
I see the doctor who summoned did all he could

(24:13):
for her there in a smaller room off the main salon.

Speaker 8 (24:16):
Yes, but she died that night.

Speaker 21 (24:18):
And then Jason O'Flynn swore by the book that no
one would live in that house. But he until his
body turned to dust. He walked out of that little
room then and was never seen again and ever since
that time.

Speaker 13 (24:33):
But now you know the rest.

Speaker 8 (24:34):
Wait, Yes, until his body turns to dust his own words,
and he wasn't seen to leave. No, what are you
thinking of, Timothy. I'm going back there, mister Conney tomorrow
in daylight.

Speaker 10 (24:56):
Hm.

Speaker 8 (24:56):
I just don't get it.

Speaker 9 (24:59):
And I sat Cliff.

Speaker 8 (25:00):
No signs a pill of walls or hidden panels on
the floors above, sir. And yet Everts somewhere somewhere close
to that small room, hmm, don't you think it best?
We simply laid the place and alone, no one but heave.
But until his body turned to dust?

Speaker 10 (25:19):
What, sir?

Speaker 8 (25:20):
And although there must have been other people about, he
wasn't seen to leave. And to me, Everts, that means
only one thing, somewhere in this house lies the key
to this mystery.

Speaker 13 (25:35):
But we've been here most of the day, sudden, we've
found nothing, and let's get none towards dusk.

Speaker 8 (25:41):
I know, I know, I know, But until I find some.

Speaker 13 (25:44):
Oop, sorry, sir.

Speaker 8 (25:46):
Let me helpful.

Speaker 13 (25:48):
Old Rugg was so badly a wrinkled it's no wonder
you tripped, great Everts, listen, very very hollow floor, I
should say, here, help me fold this rug back, yes, sir,
here now and look a sort of trap door and

(26:09):
fit it on the floor.

Speaker 8 (26:10):
So tighty yes, and this but it looks like a
seal around the edge.

Speaker 13 (26:17):
Why, yes, sir, and a heavy lifting lee.

Speaker 8 (26:21):
Well, then give me a hand. We'll see if we
can raise it. Now. Oh it's very tight. However, the
seal is giving way a little. Put everything you have
into it. Now, ay, good, we made it. I must

(26:45):
have said it, hollered.

Speaker 13 (26:46):
Oh they're coming up out of that place.

Speaker 8 (26:48):
Yes, yes, it's like that in the caves, and the
kazah comes under some micans. You mean we're all the
parties and then yes, quickly, now the flashlight. Give it
to me here, sir. Now now look look down there
on the earth and floor below. You see how do
you see? The wrists are cut? He killed himself?

Speaker 9 (27:10):
No, no, it is he.

Speaker 8 (27:13):
It's the coust that we saw. Yes, Everts, the body
of Jason O'Flynn, and so perfectly preserved as as though
he died only moments ago.

Speaker 9 (27:23):
Oh hard it.

Speaker 8 (27:26):
Until his body turned to dust, he.

Speaker 13 (27:29):
Said, so we know, no, no, that we've phoned it.
So please, sir, please leave this place.

Speaker 8 (27:37):
Er wait, Abts, wait there do you see now the
fresh air has reached it?

Speaker 10 (27:45):
Oh?

Speaker 8 (27:46):
Oh, good lord, yes, the color is leaving the cheeks.
The pallor of death is taking its place, and yes, now,
at long last, the body will turn to dust. No
longer will Jason O'Flynn walk the night requiscat in patching

(28:16):
sauce Ben, You've been listening to devil Stone, starring Christopher
Carrey and Neil Fitzgerald and written especially for Suspense by
Jonathan Bundy. Suspence is produced and directed by Fred Hendrickson.

(28:37):
Heard in tonight's story were Gilbert mack Water, Grise, Reynald
Osbourne and Frank Milano. Music supervision by Ethel Huber, Sound
patterns by Walter Otto, Technical direction by Fred Cusick. Associate
director Bernie Seabrooks. This is Stuart Mett speaking.

Speaker 4 (28:55):
There was no indication that this was the last show
of the series, and there was a reason for that.
Many stations wanted more of the shows for a period
of time until they could come up with another idea.
So CBS provided additional programs to those stations, but many

(29:16):
stations just went on doing what they were doing the
rest of the day, playing music. The final episode has
Suspense seven oh five Eastern Time on Sunday, the thirtieth
day of September nineteen sixty two. Classic Radio Theater with
wyattalks continues with the final show, yours truly Johnny Dollar.

Speaker 17 (29:47):
Americans have always been noted for their nohow, and you,
young men in search of a career, you can put
this practical talent to excellent use in one of our
nation's many engineering schools. At the present time, we need engineers.
We need them to maintain our scientific and engineering superiority.
So look to your future, to America's future. Try now

(30:08):
to become an engineer.

Speaker 4 (30:10):
A lot of us think that the best Johnny Dollar
was Bob Bailey, and there's a lot of you know,
there's a lot to go with that. Dollar took the characterization,
made it his own. But somebody else who did that
was a fellow who had done a lot in radio
and and his name was Mandel Kramer, predominantly heard on

(30:37):
this podcast for his role in Counterspy with Don McLaughlin,
but he did a lot of other shows. Did episodes
of Gangbusters, did episodes of X minus one, did a
lot of acting out of New York City shows. And

(30:59):
this would be his final role in dramatic radio, and
no doubt he did a wonderful job as Johnny Dollar.
Let's listen to this, and I wish it was a
better quality recording. Uh we go back sixty three years
to seven thirty Eastern time, July thirtieth, nineteen sixty two.

(31:25):
The final matter of Yours Truly Johnny Dollar, Jarney in.

Speaker 7 (31:30):
Northeast and twenty Association.

Speaker 15 (31:32):
Yes, joys anna, pencil and piece of paper, job and
write this down?

Speaker 9 (31:36):
Go ahead?

Speaker 7 (31:37):
One thirty oh seven oh five eight three? Got it?
So he wants to see you?

Speaker 2 (31:45):
Who does one thirty oh seven o five eight three
at state prison?

Speaker 15 (31:50):
Oh you know his name?

Speaker 7 (31:52):
George?

Speaker 2 (31:52):
No, but if it's who I think it is, well
you just might find yourself going for the commission.

Speaker 22 (31:59):
On one one hundred thousand bucs, the CDs Radio Network
brings you Mendel Kramer and the exciting adventures of the
Man with the Action Impact Expense accout America's fabulous freelance

(32:22):
insurance investigator, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. Expense account submitted by
special Investigator Johnny Dollar to Northeast Indemnity Association Home Office, Hartford, Connecticut.

(32:48):
Following is an account of expenses incurred during my investigation
of the tip Off matter. Expense account Item one is
four sixty for a tankful of gas.

Speaker 2 (33:09):
Despite the fact that the state pen is only a
few miles south in Weathersfield, a town with a population
of about twenty thousand, where the father of our country
once planned the historic Battle of York Town.

Speaker 15 (33:20):
In other words, George Washington slept there.

Speaker 2 (33:24):
An assistant warden led me not to one of the
cell blocks, but to a screened off corner in a
hospital ward The man who lay there was in his
early thirties, but he looked a hundred thin, drawn, emaciated,
with the pallor of death on his face. It was

(33:45):
a full minute before I recognized him as Turner mcgahey,
up for safe cracking, whom I hadn't seen since the
day the judge handed out his term some ten years before.

Speaker 12 (33:56):
Pretty funny dalla to get out? S? Did I lay
here dying?

Speaker 9 (34:03):
Oh?

Speaker 15 (34:03):
Now, come on, come on? Who told you that? Mcgha key?

Speaker 23 (34:06):
And I'll come on, don't you try and kid me
two dollar?

Speaker 2 (34:09):
Ill?

Speaker 12 (34:10):
I ain't got long and I know it. That's why
I had 'em send for you.

Speaker 24 (34:14):
See, maybe maybe you can step a killing dollar a
killing from that safe job that got me in here,
that was ten years ago.

Speaker 12 (34:26):
Imply they never found the loot from it.

Speaker 15 (34:28):
Did they?

Speaker 9 (34:30):
Oh?

Speaker 15 (34:30):
I see and you know what it is. Mac looked
t this ain't this ain't easy Dollar me telling this.

Speaker 12 (34:40):
But yeah, the only.

Speaker 24 (34:42):
One, I only one I.

Speaker 2 (34:44):
Got any respect for respect for me, Mac, I was
partly responsible for putting you here. Yeah, sure, Dollar, how
he had at your guts then I did.

Speaker 12 (34:59):
Only yesterday the warden.

Speaker 23 (35:02):
He told me about what you've done for Tommy, my
kid brought up about the home and foster folks you
got for.

Speaker 12 (35:12):
But you're saying he'd get educated like the way that
I never did.

Speaker 15 (35:18):
He was a nice kid in the guy game.

Speaker 12 (35:21):
So because of you, the kid has a chance to
play it straight. He gets somewhere.

Speaker 15 (35:27):
I think he will too. He doesn't know about me,
He didn't know I was there, Mac.

Speaker 9 (35:34):
There.

Speaker 2 (35:34):
Yeah, I stood in the crowd and I watched him
graduate from high school with honors.

Speaker 15 (35:42):
You'd have been proud of him.

Speaker 25 (35:43):
Mac, Yeah, he proud.

Speaker 13 (35:49):
And all on accounty you give him?

Speaker 24 (35:50):
Would I couldn't never give him?

Speaker 15 (35:54):
Tell me he deserved the chance like any other kid,
that's all.

Speaker 23 (35:58):
Yeah, But the way you've done it, if you're letting
him think I'd been killed some kind of an accident,
you're never.

Speaker 12 (36:07):
Letting him know about my record.

Speaker 15 (36:11):
What I really was.

Speaker 25 (36:14):
And now he's he's got those spots on him and
he's got nothing to live down but make him ashamed.

Speaker 12 (36:22):
Andw it this time, I I didn't know about how
about what you've done for him.

Speaker 2 (36:28):
I just kept hating him.

Speaker 12 (36:32):
But I didn't know.

Speaker 15 (36:34):
Look, Mac, that's all water under the bridge now, said.

Speaker 12 (36:39):
Now, uh uh, I'm gonna make make up to your dollar.

Speaker 15 (36:42):
There's no need to Mac. Look, look you're getting tired.

Speaker 23 (36:46):
I uh I could leave it with a whole f
from that safe job, a hundred geese.

Speaker 25 (36:51):
Oh so listening, but like listening, real careful, very careful.

Speaker 7 (37:02):
Dollar.

Speaker 2 (37:13):
He told me then about Joe Perelli, an old crony
of his, Perelli now opposing as a fisherman living in
Max's old cottage on a Comic Bay long Island near.

Speaker 15 (37:22):
The town of Cutchog.

Speaker 2 (37:24):
He told me about a safe in the cellar of
the cottage, and in fact Perelli knew.

Speaker 15 (37:28):
Only half the combination to it, and the other half.

Speaker 2 (37:34):
Two weeks ago, when he'd found out that he was
going to die, Mac had given the other half to
a crook by the name of Danny Russelloff, who had
pulled the.

Speaker 15 (37:41):
Heist with him was.

Speaker 2 (37:43):
Also there in the pen, who had not only been
a boxman, but.

Speaker 15 (37:47):
A killer who can't find except for one thing.

Speaker 25 (37:53):
I wouldn't have told Danny now if i'd known Nane about.

Speaker 12 (37:58):
But you done for my brother.

Speaker 15 (37:59):
Look, Max, but.

Speaker 9 (38:00):
Now I do know.

Speaker 25 (38:03):
So it's you that's gonna have that dough.

Speaker 15 (38:06):
Now it'll go to the insurance company. Mac.

Speaker 12 (38:08):
Look, Danny gets do him first. Danny'll kill Pearrelli.

Speaker 15 (38:13):
Take it easy, now, don't get yourself too excited, don't.

Speaker 23 (38:15):
You see I have a whole combination between him.

Speaker 12 (38:19):
Danny'll get the dough, then he'll kill PERELLI.

Speaker 15 (38:24):
Look if if you gave me the combination.

Speaker 25 (38:29):
Yeah, yeah, all right, then you'll you'll give me a word.

Speaker 23 (38:34):
You you'll protect Pearli kind of his keeping a dough
from you all this time.

Speaker 2 (38:39):
Mac, I'll do what I can for him. But first,
while I'm here at the pen, I better get things
straight with Danny.

Speaker 15 (38:45):
Russell of no dollar. Danny's getting out today, getting out
of me, and they're releasing him.

Speaker 11 (38:52):
Yeah, so you you gotta go for that dough now, go.

Speaker 2 (39:00):
See early, okay, Mac, I have a combination of the safe.

Speaker 24 (39:06):
Yeah, yeah, But.

Speaker 15 (39:09):
First it's right, turn it right, yes, no number.

Speaker 12 (39:18):
Dollar, I cack grey Mac calling dollar right, am I Mac?
Help me ortally?

Speaker 7 (39:24):
How now nice get a doctor in here.

Speaker 15 (39:35):
By the time the doctor got there, mcgaky was dead.
I asked the warden about Danny Russelloft.

Speaker 2 (39:42):
Then yes, mister Dollar, we send him on his way
about an hour ago. And all I can say is
good riddance, okay, and expense kind item two one hundred
and fifty dollars for a plane at charter job.

Speaker 15 (39:56):
We took off and hit it south. How Dick spined
out the pilot ever.

Speaker 2 (40:00):
Managed to sit down among the sand dunes near Cutshog
in semidarkness, I'll never know. But after a walk of
about a mile I found the gas station. I had
him three twenty dollars for a gas jockey for the
use of his stripped down the village car.

Speaker 12 (40:15):
Sure, man, you just negotiate that next turn left.

Speaker 19 (40:18):
You sit down there, and then and you swing another
left on the sandy road you come to and you
stop when you make the bay.

Speaker 12 (40:24):
So beat up old shack with a wore out old
pier in front of him, okay.

Speaker 19 (40:28):
And if you don't see him around or he don't
answer when you're knocked one in anyhow. It's probably because
old Parelli's liquored up, like he mostly is, and it's
fell asleep.

Speaker 12 (40:36):
All right, thanks, Oh, and just be sure to get.

Speaker 19 (40:39):
My car back here by midnight when I close up.
Huh right, Mike.

Speaker 15 (41:00):
Farrelli.

Speaker 7 (41:03):
Anybody here knocking a door?

Speaker 9 (41:06):
Come on up?

Speaker 15 (41:10):
Okay, all right, Brelly, I oh yeah, you got a
gun exactly waiting.

Speaker 9 (41:18):
For you, dear loud shot okay, come okay, got him up,
Thank him up, Thank you up. Daddy.

Speaker 15 (41:32):
Danny sat looking forward this gun. Danny was alive.

Speaker 9 (41:38):
Yeah, yeah, what Donny was getting out today? Who are you?
Who are you missed it?

Speaker 15 (41:47):
My name is don and I sit down over there
by that table.

Speaker 9 (41:50):
Yeah, where are you going there?

Speaker 2 (41:54):
I've come to pick up some money for Elli, one
hundred thousand dollars from the safe in your cellar.

Speaker 9 (41:59):
You got no right, but I haven't done. You think
I didn't know what's in the sight.

Speaker 15 (42:04):
I'm sure you did, and it all better be in
it now.

Speaker 9 (42:08):
That's Maxto the Ghaki.

Speaker 15 (42:11):
He's dead.

Speaker 2 (42:11):
Pirelli only a couple of hours ago in the prison hospital.
You're lying you want to call him up and check on.

Speaker 7 (42:18):
It that.

Speaker 9 (42:23):
The ghaki's dead.

Speaker 15 (42:24):
Eh, that's right.

Speaker 9 (42:27):
Oh, half for that dough is mine. That's mine, Dolla.

Speaker 15 (42:32):
I don't think so, dolla.

Speaker 9 (42:35):
Huh, Johnny Garr, you ain't joint stick.

Speaker 15 (42:41):
That's right, And I'm here to get that money.

Speaker 12 (42:44):
I'm also here for another reason, yeah, like what to save?

Speaker 15 (42:50):
You are worthless cocas if I can. You don't believe that.

Speaker 9 (42:55):
I never trust no cop. I mean you're a.

Speaker 2 (42:57):
Cop, Prelli. Get one thing straight. Personally, I couldn't care
less what happens to you. I've got no use for you.
Man with a record like you pimp up.

Speaker 9 (43:05):
Over the u bock. I paid for everything.

Speaker 15 (43:08):
For holding out of this hot money.

Speaker 2 (43:11):
My only reason for trying to keep Danny Russell off
from killing you is because I promised mcgaky I would.

Speaker 9 (43:16):
I can take care of myself.

Speaker 15 (43:18):
Like he did when I came barging in here.

Speaker 9 (43:20):
Okay, so may you.

Speaker 2 (43:22):
Danny Russell lost the killer and he's got the other
half of that safe combination, yes, because mcgaky gave it
to him when he found out he was gonna die.
And you think Danny couldn't force your half out of
you with a gun in your belly if you refuse
to help him open that box, and then when he
got the doe, he'd kill you.

Speaker 9 (43:42):
Oh I stow, wouldn't would I had kill you anyway,
and then blow the safe that used to be his business.

Speaker 15 (43:50):
So whatever happens for Ellie without me, you end up
dead Doda less.

Speaker 2 (43:53):
Look, I know it'll mean breaking my wood to mcgaky,
but if that's the way you want it, all I
have to do is just sit on the sidelines, wait
for Danny to get him for the safe to be
open one way or another. See you get knocked off,
and then move in on Danny.

Speaker 9 (44:03):
Okay, okay, maybe I can get him fresh.

Speaker 15 (44:07):
Uh, go on, try it.

Speaker 2 (44:12):
But if you do get lucky, if you do kill
him before he kills you, I promise you one thing
for Elli. I'll see you end up in the chair.
Would you like to think about that for a while.
Just don't take too long, though, because I doubt that
Danny's gonna waste much time getting down here.

Speaker 15 (44:30):
And if I'm not around when he does get here, well.

Speaker 9 (44:34):
Parelly, okay, okay, where do you want me to go?

Speaker 15 (44:41):
Got enough food around here to keep it for a
couple of days. Sure, I got plenty, all right, then
I'm moving in. You got a phone?

Speaker 9 (44:48):
No, only plenty of food and booth.

Speaker 15 (44:51):
I can see that. Is there any other way to
get here? PERELLI? Besides the road that turns off near
the gas station, and.

Speaker 9 (44:57):
That's all less. Somebody tie get here with one heliocopters.
All right?

Speaker 2 (45:03):
Then from the gas station, I can tell if somebody
is heading in here. All right, I'll see you later.
Item four back of the gas station out on the highway.
One hundred dollars even one hundred bucks.

Speaker 19 (45:22):
Oh for that man, I'll ride a bicycle to borrow
my sister's car, and you can keep the old craig.

Speaker 15 (45:26):
Oh, jimmy, I only need it for a day or two, I.

Speaker 12 (45:28):
Hope, all the time you want? And is there anything
else I can do? Mister dollars? Just let me have a.

Speaker 15 (45:32):
Handful of change to throw at this payphone of yours.

Speaker 2 (45:41):
Item five three eighty for a call to George Hardy
at his home back in Hartford.

Speaker 15 (45:44):
I gave him the whole story.

Speaker 7 (45:46):
Good, Johnny, Good.

Speaker 2 (45:47):
I had a feeling it had to do with that
safe cracking job we had to make good on.

Speaker 7 (45:52):
Now, how do I contact you?

Speaker 9 (45:54):
Down there.

Speaker 2 (45:54):
You don't, I'll have to contact you. What are you
thinking of when you set this?

Speaker 7 (45:58):
Danny russell Off isn't shown up there yet, not.

Speaker 15 (46:01):
Yet, always have plenty of time by now.

Speaker 2 (46:04):
Maybe Danny's playing it smart now he's on parole. What
do you mean, Well, he's supposed to report him here
in Hartford where he.

Speaker 7 (46:11):
Used to live, isn't he? Probably, Joe, he'll do that
first to give a good impression. Hey, everybody think he's
on the up and up.

Speaker 2 (46:18):
Maybe, and then when he figures nobody's watching him anymore,
then he'll make his move right, except that, I can't
see him wasting any time about getting his hands on
the money, or at least making sure it's still here.
So George, Yes, get hold of Pete Larkin, the private detective.

Speaker 15 (46:33):
Yoh, tell him it's for me.

Speaker 2 (46:34):
Tell him if Danny is there in Hartford, to keep
an eye on him day and night. And if he
leaves town. I want to know it so I can
be ready for him.

Speaker 7 (46:40):
Okay, And meanwhile, will you be doing? Have you called
on the police down there?

Speaker 15 (46:45):
I don't even know if they have any in this
little town.

Speaker 2 (46:47):
What's more a couple of cops crawling around, but only
scare him away, and I want to get him.

Speaker 15 (46:50):
I'll check back with you three or four times a day.

Speaker 7 (46:52):
Okay, And at least we know where that hundred thousand is.

Speaker 9 (46:56):
Now, do we?

Speaker 2 (46:58):
Maybe I better get back out to Perelia make sure
the safe was still there, and Mike Parley's cellar intact,
and Mike himself in the.

Speaker 15 (47:13):
Process of getting very very drunk. But an answer to
my question, okay.

Speaker 9 (47:19):
Okay, right, it's it's only the last two numbers a combination.

Speaker 15 (47:25):
I know, all right, what are they?

Speaker 9 (47:29):
It's cold and two character right?

Speaker 15 (47:33):
Two turns to the right to what number?

Speaker 2 (47:37):
It's a A one two turns to the right to
eighty one?

Speaker 15 (47:41):
Yeah, and then he listen dollar and then Mike yeah.

Speaker 9 (47:46):
Then left left fourteen, then left to fourteen, said okay, yeah, listen,
I'm scared. Now you got me scared?

Speaker 15 (47:56):
Give me here, go ahead, help yourself.

Speaker 2 (48:02):
Maybe enough of that stuff will at least keep you
hold of listeners, right, hold of hi, you hear that?

Speaker 9 (48:13):
Yeah? Het the car outright?

Speaker 15 (48:15):
Let me Downy's light you see it there? You know
that Cary?

Speaker 9 (48:22):
Hey, that guy he's coming in there, like.

Speaker 26 (48:26):
Kill me as.

Speaker 2 (48:39):
The car polltal wo was stopped. I quietly slipped over
the one side of the door and grabbed a knob.
I drew my gun and waited for.

Speaker 15 (48:45):
A long moment.

Speaker 2 (48:46):
There was no sound out there. Then a car door
opening and closing quietly. Then footsteps on the wooden sidewalk.
Then as I fell in touch a doorknob, I turned
it and swung open the door. Say, what's the matter, man?

(49:10):
What's going on here? And why are you palming that cannon?

Speaker 12 (49:14):
Sorry, Jimmy was expecting somebody else, man, I hope so
hey see what happened to him? Oh for Ellie? Oh
well he oh yeah, yeah, I see the jug now
falling down drunk again.

Speaker 19 (49:25):
Huh oh but uh here here, mister Dahr MEAs and
I stop by as I forgot to give you this
key to the trunk of my car and in case
you need it. Oh okay, Jimmy, thanks and listen.

Speaker 12 (49:35):
I've been thinking your name is Dollar.

Speaker 19 (49:38):
Huh Johnny Dollar, that investigator, Man, I think you're the most.

Speaker 2 (49:42):
Look, Jimmy, if Johnny Dollar was around here, if he
was sitting a trap for some crook. Yeah, if anybody
blabbed about it to anyone, Johnny Dollar might end up
very dead.

Speaker 15 (49:51):
You understand that, don't worry.

Speaker 12 (49:54):
Don't you worry. Just just let me know how you
make out, will you.

Speaker 15 (49:57):
I'll let you know.

Speaker 19 (49:58):
Yeah, and thanks, Thanks, Johnny.

Speaker 2 (50:08):
Item six next three days forty one dollars for more
telephone calls to George Hardy. Yeah, Danny russell Off was
in Hartford but sitting tight, So maybe George.

Speaker 15 (50:17):
Had been right. But how much longer I could keep
old Perelli under.

Speaker 2 (50:20):
The influence without doing him serious harm began to worry me,
and I was afraid that if he got sobery might
turn on me.

Speaker 19 (50:26):
Then the fourth day, and listen, Johnny, I mean, mister,
as soon as you get to making that call, I
want to tell you something. Yeah, okay, Jimmy, sure, And
I hope you haven't been worried about my telling anybody
you're here, because I haven't told anyhow, Oh, George, Johnny Dollard, Yeah, goodness,
you call when I got.

Speaker 7 (50:41):
Back here from munch. Pete Hark is that private eye
you have me?

Speaker 19 (50:44):
Called?

Speaker 7 (50:44):
Yes, early this morning, Danny Rushlock got away from him.

Speaker 12 (50:48):
He did.

Speaker 7 (50:48):
Pete's lost him entirely, So Johnny, if I were you.

Speaker 12 (50:52):
Okay, George, Now what I was gonna tell you, Jimmy,
I'm sorry.

Speaker 15 (50:55):
I haven't time now.

Speaker 12 (50:56):
But about that.

Speaker 19 (50:57):
Other car that started down the road? It what, yeah,
down at Pirelli's place when about an hour ago? But
then it came back to the highways to.

Speaker 15 (51:05):
Get the license.

Speaker 12 (51:05):
Oh, I didn't get the number. It was Connecticut though,
all right?

Speaker 19 (51:08):
Man?

Speaker 12 (51:09):
After he came back to the highway down that way.

Speaker 2 (51:11):
I see, so, Jimmy, is another road around here that
goes to the bay.

Speaker 12 (51:13):
Yeah, the old fishing club below Peri's place.

Speaker 15 (51:15):
Okay, here so.

Speaker 12 (51:18):
Buck Yeah, but why what did I do?

Speaker 7 (51:20):
I'll let you know.

Speaker 2 (51:30):
I started down the road to Perellis, but no, because
if it had been Thenny. The reason he turned around
to come back to the highway was because he'd seen
my car there.

Speaker 15 (51:38):
So instead I took the road to the fishing club.

Speaker 2 (51:41):
And there it was, beside the abandoned clubhouse, a rental
job with Connecticut plates. Leading away from it were footprints
in the sand leading toward Perellis.

Speaker 15 (51:51):
As I got close to the cottage.

Speaker 2 (51:52):
By crawling on my belly behind the sand dunes, I
managed to work my way around one of the windows.

Speaker 15 (52:00):
I waited and listened. Not a sound inside the trap.

Speaker 2 (52:07):
Maybe so maybe Pirelli is still hoping for a crack
at the one hundred grand and taking the chance of
going over to Danny's side.

Speaker 15 (52:15):
Well, there's only one way to find out.

Speaker 2 (52:18):
I raised up chest enough to look into the room.
There on the floor lay Mike Perelli dead, a bullet
hole in his forehead. So he hadn't told his half
the combination That meant there was only one way Danny
could get the door out of that safe now, And
the door to the cellar was wide open yet if

(52:39):
I tried to lift a noisy old window and climb
in without some other sound to cover.

Speaker 15 (52:44):
But Danny himself gave me that. By the time the.

Speaker 2 (52:49):
Noise of his nitro job on the safe to died away,
I was inside the house and halfway down the cellar steps.

Speaker 12 (52:55):
Alright, Danny, raise them up over your head. Oh those
ends up high?

Speaker 9 (53:00):
Oh yeah yeah, mister.

Speaker 2 (53:03):
Look you reach for a gun, Danny, I'll pull a
truck on all you out. You see this this bottle,
mister Nightro, it's Nightro, and I could throw it even
with a slug in me and you are dead.

Speaker 15 (53:14):
If I can hit that bottle from me, I'll.

Speaker 9 (53:16):
Back up drop the gun.

Speaker 15 (53:18):
You try throwing that bottle of nitro?

Speaker 9 (53:20):
Yeah, you set it down now, gently set it down. Now,
I've thrown it. Now.

Speaker 2 (53:44):
I had heard of such things, but never before quite
believed them possible.

Speaker 7 (53:48):
But so help me.

Speaker 2 (53:49):
When I picked myself up on the edge of the
wreckage of that cottage, most of.

Speaker 15 (53:52):
My clothes were blown completely.

Speaker 2 (53:54):
Off, and yet by some miracle, I suffered no more
than a couple of bruises and a slight headache. Yes
for Danny, Oh well, let's not go into that. He's
paid for all his crimes expense of cop total three.
And don't forget my commission, in spite of the fact
that a lot of bits and pieces of that money

(54:15):
had to be pasted back together.

Speaker 15 (54:17):
Yours truly, Johnny Dollar.

Speaker 22 (54:20):
Can you get premium gasoline performance at regular gasoline price?

Speaker 9 (54:25):
Find out what so many.

Speaker 22 (54:26):
Other car owners have found in free out of five
cars regular price Sinclair Dino Gasoline Match's performance of premium
gasolines saves you up to four cents a gallon almost
anywhere you see the Sinclair sign. You can save up
to four cents a gallon with Dino and still get
premium performance and mileage. Drive with care and by Sinclair

(54:51):
Dino Gasoline. Yours Truly Johnny Dollar is written by Jack Johnstone,
produced and directed by Fred Hendrickson. Johnny Dollar is played

(55:14):
by Vandel Kramer. Also featured in our cast were Jackson Beck,
Joseph Julian, Jack Rimes, Bob Maxwell, and Peter Fernandez. Music
supervision by Ethel Hubert, Sound patterns by Walter Otto. Tomorrow
begins a New week Celerity with Arthur Godfrey time on
the CBS Radio.

Speaker 4 (55:34):
Network, and was at the age of acting in the
general sense on the radio. And there are a lot
of shows that still came and went. You had the
CBS Radio Mystery Theater, you had Theater five, you had
some other shows, but oh and we can't forget Imagination Theater,

(55:58):
the Wonderful of the Wonderful series Jim French created. And
you had some religious programs. You had, of course Adventures
in Odyssey and a number of other programs of a
religious nature, Heartbeat Theater. But that by and large ended
the large consumption and a large production of dramatic content

(56:24):
on radio. On this date sixty three years ago today,
I'm wyat Cox. This is classic radio theater. We talked
about how radio became a conduit after this for disc jockeys,
and then today it became a content for news and

(56:44):
conversation and opinion. And one of the people who pervaded
that early on goes back eighty years today to Orson Wells,
who did commentary on ABC, and we'll hear that coming
up next.

Speaker 5 (57:07):
Driving tonight, then remember this, most highway deaths are caused
by two temptations to cut out of line and to
go too fast. Crossing the center line of the road
is more dangerous than you realize. Statistics proven excessive speed
is just as dangerous as officials say. You can predict
your own impulses, but you can never predict the other drivers.

(57:27):
When driving tonight, drive cautiously.

Speaker 15 (57:30):
Please.

Speaker 4 (57:30):
We all know Orson Wells as the dramatist, the comedian,
the actor. What you may not know is that Orson
Wells did commentary beginning eighty years ago. Today on ABC,
we'll listen to his program now sponsored by Lear Radio.

(57:53):
And the interesting part about this is it came from
his home. Let's listen to the Wells commentary, the first
one that aired eighty years ago.

Speaker 14 (58:05):
Today, stay tuned for k ECA's new commentary Orson Wells.

Speaker 3 (58:15):
This is Orson Wells come to call again for talk
about people and the things they're doing all over the world.
Then there's the story I promise for this week. We
get to the story in just a minute.

Speaker 1 (58:26):
First, just a word about Lear Incorporated.

Speaker 15 (58:29):
Lear.

Speaker 1 (58:30):
That's l E a R. Makers of Lear radios and
sponsors of this program. It may be news to you
that Lear has been making radio since nineteen thirty. More
likely than not, you haven't heard the name LEIR until recently.
That's because the radios that Lear has been building for
fifteen years have been very special radios, radios that were
made for a very exacting purpose. They are aircraft radios,

(58:52):
the kind of instruments that men stake the safety of
their planes and their passengers upon. Today Lear radios are
in use in the air lanes all away from Alaska
to South America. This is why we say since nineteen thirty,
Lear has been the name men fly by. Now for
the first time, Lear is making home radios as well
as aircraft radios. And when this kind of craftsmanship and

(59:14):
forward thinking go into home radios, they become instruments of
unusual excellence. Will tell you more about these sets a
little later. Now, mister Wells brings you his views and
opinions on events as he sees them. The opinions are
his on and do not necessarily represent the views of
lear incorporated.

Speaker 3 (59:30):
Ladies and gentlemen. My views are not necessarily represented by
the sign I told about in the ABC parking lot.
You remember I mentioned that sign last week. It says
no bailment created here, and rashly offered free radio tickets
to anyone who could decode the phrase For me. Well,
I spent most of this last week paying off your
obedient servant has never had so much mail before in

(59:51):
his life. I'm forced to one of two conclusions that
the only people who don't know what to create bailment means,
and me and the man who runs the parking lot
are that every living member of the Bar Association listens
to this show. A solemn thought. To protect myself from
distractions like that sign, I've moved this microphone all the
way out to our house in Brentwood, California. Although this

(01:00:11):
is still the American Broadcasting Company, I'd like you to
know about the new branch studio they've opened in our
living room. Will help explain any unrehearsed sound effects we
may feature from time to time, such as the merry
jingle of a cocker spaniel's license tag, which punctuated some
of our more earnest moments on the last broadcast, or
the lusty wail of an eight month old daughter, a
sound I'm expecting anytime now from the nursery above.

Speaker 9 (01:00:34):
Well.

Speaker 3 (01:00:35):
I noticed in the paper there's some talk about a
new naval uniform. Seems like a good idea to me.
Never could understand why they made sailor's pants so white
at the bottom when they need the material so desperately.
Up above, Eddie Canty, as you may have heard, added
somebody new to his radio show last week, Thelma Carpenter.
She's a singer and in the continent it is. She's
brought in as a friend of the family, not as

(01:00:55):
a servant on the air. That's a fine fresh way
of treating a Negro artist. Last night I heard somebody
ask Eddie why in his introduction he made no mention
of the fact that Miss Carton is colored. I liked
Eddie's answer. In my life he said, I've introduced a
lot of singers, but I've never described one of them.
As a white singer. It reminded me of a story
about General Eisenhower. In London before D Day and Night's

(01:01:17):
staff there was a British officer who was pretty stupid
and pompous and got on everybody's nerves more than some.
The American colonel came to Eysenhower one day with a
beef about him. I just can't get anything done, he complained,
with that ignorant British blankety blank so and so. I
think I know the man you mean, said the Supreme
Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe. He's certainly the
most trying and inefficient officer I've ever had to work with.

(01:01:37):
He is, as you say, ignorant. You have my permission
to call him a blankety blank anytime you want to,
because it's true, but you cannot call him a British
blankety blank in my presence. You may describe him as
a so and so, but I will not tolerate your
calling him a British so and so. Eisenhower got rid
of the so and so, and the colonel who call

(01:01:57):
him a British so and so was relieved of his
duty and went back to the States. Speaking of Eisenhower.
We saw his motion picture the other night. We have time,
I'd like to tell you about it. First, a word
or two about the news. We don't know yet what
I had to say to Patten, who wants to give
Bavaria back to the Nazis. Apparently we'll probably never hear
the exact words, which is a shame. Old Blood and

(01:02:18):
Guts has put his foot in it before this time,
I guess is he's in it way over his shiny boots,
above the pearl handle, shooting irons, and right up to
the well known lacquered helmet. But the truth is Old
b and g isn't the only champion of a soft
piece for Germany. Many of the things were up to
in Germany and in Japan are a source of worried
suspicion to our recent allies. Jimmy Burns has made the

(01:02:40):
Russians particularly unhappy these last three weeks, and Truman's denials, notwithstanding,
the London Conference of Foreign Ministers is a wash out,
a hopeless flop. Here at home, men close to the
scene are saying that the president's political honeymoon is over.
Many top flight operators who work their hearts out for
Roosevelt at low Cell are now heeding the siren song

(01:03:02):
of better pay or leaving government for business. According to them,
Harry Truman's Little Man Act is wearing thin to the
people who are thrown out of work and can't get
unemployment insurance. President won't be able to keep many valuable
young men in government service unless he persuades them soon
that he's really fighting for the program on which he
and Roosevelt were elected. They don't mind a losing battle,

(01:03:22):
but they do want the chance to get at least
one belt in before the Gong rings. And in England
and the new Labor government, the same kind of young
men are grumbling about Macdonaldism. Younger Labor members in the
House of Commons are insisting out loud that their administration
apply the basic policy on which it was elected. For
Britain's Foreign office, the two great problems today, of course,

(01:03:43):
are one India, where promised radical changes in administration have
yet to be made, and two Palestine, where passed all argument,
the doors must be opened much more widely for the
Jews of Europe. Domestically, of course, Britain's first problem is
the need for food. Mind just off the plane from
England say that the British people have given less, getting

(01:04:04):
less to eat now if possible, and during the Blitz,
of course, on the continent, things are immeasurably worse. Well,
it seems the woman from Weehawken still thinks I'm a
looney who wants to give America away to the foreigners,
And her latest letter she accuses me of wanting to
feed the world. Madam, I wish I could. The world

(01:04:24):
is very hungry, and hungry as a bad word, and
hunger is not a symptom of peace. Madam, your government
and mind promised food for starving Europe. We're not keeping
our promise with other nations. We pledged our share food
to UNRA, but unlike other nations, we aren't honoring that pledge.
What other nations you ask were Canada? For instance, Canada

(01:04:46):
has just started meat rationing again to try to help
stop the spread of famine abroad. Who's to blame? No individual,
no group, no agency is willing to admit particular responsibility. Really,
it's all of us who failed, who've fallen down. You know,
we promised four thousand nine only one tons of dried eggs.
We've not yet delivered a single egg, not even a
rotten one. We pledged nine hundred and forty three tons

(01:05:06):
of margarine and thirty four four hundred and forty six
tons of sugar. We failed on those pledges. And if
it's our fault, Madame yours in mind, what can we
do about it? We can wire the White House, the
Secretary of Agriculture and our congressmen. Our congressmen not even
talking about the matter. Nowadays, seems there aren't any votes
in Europe. All in all, I think you and I
are being pretty poorly represented these days by the politicians

(01:05:30):
we elected to Congress. The Senate, you know, is stripping
the Wagner Murray Full Employment Bill of its meaning and
all possible effectiveness. Taft claims there's no panacea to unemployment.
Perhaps some of our senators are willing to see a
few millions waiting in line at the soup kitchens, But
the men who found jobs in wartime, and above all,
the men who fought in the war, won't be content

(01:05:52):
to consider unemployment one of the blessings of peace. Last
week I started a story dedicated to all those who've
been objecting to our references to bull fighting and who
sympathized with the bull. A fighting bull is the hero
of this story, and it's a true story. His name
was Bonito. He grew up in a place where fighting

(01:06:13):
bulls are raised with a little boy, the son of
one of the ranch hands. They spent most of their
time together. These two, they were as close friends as
a boy and his dog ever are. Now, if I
were to tell you that my daughter was playing in
the jungle with a lion or a king cobra, it
would be no less remarkable than this, because no living
thing is more innately vicious, more terribly dangerous, more untamable

(01:06:34):
than the fighting bull. And Bonito was no weakling. To
all appearances, he was the superior of any of the
animals bred up to that time on that famous ranch.
Yet he was like a puppy with a little boy,
and as he grew as wise and gentle as a
good old horse, retired to the pastures. Imagine the cost
consternation when the two were discovered together one day, the

(01:06:56):
beast feeding out of the child's hand. Was believed by
all that, despite his handsome looks, Bonito would prove a coward.
When his time came to be sent to the city
for the corrida. The owner doubted little that here was
an animal appointed to disgrace a proud breed. The little
boy ran off in the night and followed to the
place where his beloved pet must meet his death, a

(01:07:18):
sad time for the little boy, you can be sure.
Before the tragedy, he went to pray for the creature
to whom he had given all his childish love. And
there in the chapel, kneeling at the altar beside him,
the little boy saw the great matador, who was to
kill Bonito or be killed by him. They prayed side
by side, the boy for the bull's life, the Torrero

(01:07:42):
for his own, then left by separate doors, the bull
fighter to prepare for the paseo, to brief his quadria,
to wait in the shadows under the arena, sweating with
fear as mada doors always do, even on the coolest afternoon.
The little boy to spend a last tearful moment with
his friend, the big black, wise looking beast, waiting for

(01:08:04):
death in the wooden cage. Music and the great roar
of the crowd. Doors suddenly opened before the bull. The
hornet sting of the ranch collars spiked into the great
hump of muscle on his back, a fine entrance. Here
was a great bull, and the crowd knew it. The
critics leaned forward in their seats. Now a great fires
preserved for the students of the art in careful records,
And to this day we know exactly how the great

(01:08:24):
bull and the great matador worked together in the blazing
plaza on that historic afternoon. Every move of the cape
Harbonito charged and charged again, straight as a locomotive, noble,
as a hero out of Homer. But of all this
the little boy saw nothing. He could not watch. If
he had tried, he would have seen nothing for the tears.
And came time for the kill, the moment of truth,

(01:08:46):
the Spaniards call it. The sword was raised, Silence choked
the plaza. Then, at the very last instant, the stillness
was shattered by the cry of a trumpet. The executioner
lowered his good, smiling hand, flushed with such triumph as
comes in a lifetime to few men, left the arena,

(01:09:07):
his adversaries, still furiously alive, stood his ground under the
cruel sun. Then spoke the highest authority of the Corrida,
addressing himself in formal tones to the victorious bull, Bonito,
you are more than brave. We have seen you reaffirm
the dignity and splendor of the art and of the breed.
We therefore pardon you. Go back to the place of

(01:09:31):
your birth and beget more of your kind. And so
it happened, as sometimes happens, but very rarely, that for
extreme bravery, a bull was spared his life. But Bonito,
still blind with rage, understood no word of this, and,
feeling no gratitude, refused to leave the ring. They sent
the cows in after him, and he turned on them,

(01:09:51):
and they poor creatures stampeded, panicked. He had won this
ground in battle, and he would not budge. Then a
great gasp, a shudder of fear and outrage went up
in the plaza. Somehow a little boy had jumped into
the center of the ring. Men turned their eyes away
from the expected horror, But when they looked again, wonder
of wonders, there was the little boy, standing cool and
safe beside Bonito. This phenomenon of fury, this terror among

(01:10:13):
fighting bulls, And what was the child doing? Patting the
head between the frightful horns? And if they'd known it?
Whispering words of comfort to an old friend. Amazed, they
saw the great Bonito nuzzle this child like a colt,
then move politely after him like a little dark out

(01:10:34):
of the ring. And so the two went back to
their ranch together, and Bonito, according to the terms of
his pardon, had many brave sons, and in the fullness
of time, so did his little friend. Since this story
is perfectly true, I'm very glad to tell you that
they both lived happily ever after. Before I leave, I

(01:10:57):
like you to hear about an awful good picture we
saw last night. But first your attention please for an
interesting announcement.

Speaker 1 (01:11:03):
Now, just a word about Lear home radios. You'll probably
know why I emphasized the word home. It's because the
name Lear has been known mostly for its very fine
aircraft radios. Now, the kind of skill and craftsmanship that
make Lear aircraft radios so outstanding is going into radios
that you can buy for your home. Some models include television,

(01:11:25):
some have the wonderful Lear wire recorder, and there are
record players with automatic record changers, and you static free
f M and world scanning short wave. With so much
quality and advanced engineering knowledge built into these radios, you
might expect they'd cost a lot, but that just isn't so.
With Lear radios, they're right along in price, with radios

(01:11:45):
far less distinguished. There's a table model at nineteen dollars
ninety five cents, and at the other end of the
line there's a beautiful console with the best of everything
at five hundred dollars. The more you appreciate fine reproduction,
the more you'll recognize there fine performance and agree that
Leir gives you the most for every dollar you spend.

(01:12:06):
Remember the name Leir L E. A. R. And a
few words about next week.

Speaker 3 (01:12:13):
Like you, we thought we had our fill of war commentaries,
but The True Glory by Carol Reed and Garson Kanaan
is by so much the best that we abandoned all
resistance to more battle footage and gave into a really
great experience, The True Glory. It's the Eisenhower picture. Please
don't miss it. Well, now the clock tells me I'm
to say goodbye. Please let me come to call again,

(01:12:34):
and thanks for this time. Until then, Speaking for my sponsors,
the makers of Lear radios, and my daughter upstairs, who's
been nice enough not to spoiler daddy's broadcast, I remain
as always obedient Leos. This is the American Broadcasting Company.

Speaker 1 (01:12:49):
Ten thirty at k E c A, Los Angeles by Tran.

Speaker 4 (01:12:53):
And k E c A was originally owned by a
fellow by the name of E. C. Anthony, thus the
names Anthony was a Hudson automobile brand dealer. He became
a packer dealer over the years. And he built a

(01:13:18):
radio on a bread board on his kitchen table, a
fifty watt transmitter which began broadcasting in nineteen twenty two
as KFI and it's still there today. And then in
nineteen twenty nine he acquired another radio station, k ECA.

(01:13:45):
He was the early president of the National Association of
Broadcasters in addition to being a car dealer, and he
founded KFI Television. It's now k CAL nine KCl.

Speaker 2 (01:13:59):
And Earl C.

Speaker 4 (01:14:02):
Anthony sold KCA to the American Broadcasting Company. And you
know the rest of the story that evolved into KABC
in Los Angeles. And now you know the rest of

(01:14:24):
that story that in the aircheck from k ECA at
the time of the Orsonwells Show on this date September thirtieth,
nineteen forty five, and I fibbed to you was not
the premiere of the program, but it apparently was its

(01:14:47):
first broadcast in Los Angeles.

Speaker 2 (01:14:51):
Some there you go.

Speaker 4 (01:14:54):
So we have heard during the last almost ninety minutes,
hour and fifteen. You've heard where radio started and where
radio would eventually become. You heard where radio ended the
dramatic age. And yet before it had ended the dramatic age,

(01:15:14):
it went into the commentary age. And that is where
we are today. Radio continues. And as somebody said, after
the last atomic bomb drops, there will be a cockroach

(01:15:36):
sitting there munching on a toast is tweakie and listening
to the radio. I'm wyat Cox. Thanks for joining us
here on Classic Radio Theater.