March 5, 2025 • 40 mins
Original Release Date: March 8, 2023
Today's Mystery: Steve goes to Berlin to stop a kidnapping and extortion racket that kidnaps German citizens and threatens to hand them over to the Eastern Bloc if their relatives don't pay a ransom.
Original Radio Broadcast Date: December 9, 1950
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Give us a call at 208-991-4783
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Join us again tomorrow for another detective drama from the Golden Age of Radio.
Today's Mystery: Steve goes to Berlin to stop a kidnapping and extortion racket that kidnaps German citizens and threatens to hand them over to the Eastern Bloc if their relatives don't pay a ransom.
Original Radio Broadcast Date: December 9, 1950
Support the show monthly at patreon.greatdetectives.net
Support the show on a one-time basis at http://support.greatdetectives.net.
'Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715
Take the listener survey at http://survey.greatdetectives.net\
Give us a call at 208-991-4783
Follow us on Instagram at http://instagram.com/greatdetectives
Follow us on Twitter @radiodetectives
Join us again tomorrow for another detective drama from the Golden Age of Radio.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:28):
Welcome to the Great Detectives of OldTime Radio from Boise Idahole. This is
your host, Adam Graham. Ifyou have a comment, email it to
me Box thirteen at Great Detectives dotnet. Follow us on Twitter at Radio
Detectives, and check us out onInstagram, Instagram dot com slash Great Detectives.
(00:53):
To be sure and never miss anepisode of the podcast, I encourage
you to follow the podcast using yourface favorite podcast software. Our listener support
campaign continues. You can become oneof our ongoing Patreon supporters for his little
last two dollars per month. Justgo over to Patreon dot Great Detectives dot
net. Also, be sure andlisten. On Friday, we will have
(01:15):
a very special announced with that you'llwant to hear. Well. Now it's
time for this week's episode of DangerousAssignment. The original air date December the
ninth, nineteen fifty and the titleas Berlin Kidnapping Ring Oh a full hour
(01:36):
of mystery Adventure, a Saturday nightfeature of NBC's All Star Festivals. In
thirty minutes, It's the Man calledX Right Now. Dangerous Assignment, starring
Brand dun Levy as Steve Mitchell,brought to You by the makers of Addison
(02:00):
Class Relief from the Pain of headachesneritis, and Arouse You by Chesterfield,
the only cigarette that combines mildness withno unpleasant aftertaste, The cigarette that brings
you, Bain Crosbie and Bob Hopeby your local Ford dealer, who is
now displaying the new nineteen fifty oneFord, the car that's built for the
years ahead. And by RCA Victor, world leader in radio, first in
(02:25):
recorded music, first in television.Yeah, danger is my assignment. I
(02:50):
get sent to a lot of placesI can't even pronounce. They all spell
the same thing, though, trouble. But when I walk into the Commissioner's
office, I don't realize this assignment'sgoing to end up with me try my
level best to shoot myself. Goodmorning, Commissioner, Ruth said you had
an assignment for me. I do, Steve, you haven't been kidnapped.
(03:13):
Kidnapp Well, I remember a redheadonce who claimed we were out of gas.
I'm sure you put up a terrificstruggle, like a tiger at bay
m Well, that's all very interesting, but I didn't send vier to here.
Chapter thirty three of your Memoirs you'releaving for Berlin on the next plain.
I'm flying clear to Berlin so somebodycan kidnap me. Oh, you're
flying there to find out who's beenkidnapping a few other people, you know.
I think you'd better start from thebeginning, Commissioner Steve, Apparently there's
(03:35):
been a nasty little racket flourishing inour occupation zone of Berlin for some time.
It only came to light last night. What kind of a racket,
commission A prominent German named Mula waskidnapped several days ago. His wife received
a ransom note telling her that ifshe didn't raise the required money, her
husband would be turned over to interestsin the eastern zone of Berlin. Oh
apparently this Mulla had made a fewenemies there. I see, sort of
(03:57):
sell Mulla to the highest bidder.Yes, his wife raised them and Mulla
was returned. But when he triedto grab the man who returned to him,
he was shot and killed on hisown doorstep. Look, this is
all very interesting, but isn't kidnappinga matter for the Berlin police. What's
it got to do with us?I'll tell you why. It's our baby.
Apparently the kidnapper was a US governmentofficial. Why oh, look,
don't try to tell me you believethat. I'm just giving you the facts,
(04:17):
Steve. What's behind those facts wouldbe another story, and I'm convinced
it is. But that's what you'regoing over there to find out. But
I still don't see what indicates thata government official is behind it. Here's
how the day was set up.Muller had applied for a building permit several
days before he was kidnapped. Thosepermits are handled by a special office,
which is run under our supervision.A few nights later, a man who
claimed he was from that office cameto see Mule. He told Mula that
(04:41):
they needed further information before they couldissue the permit. The Mulla would have
to come to the office. Thenext thing his wife knew was when she
got the ransom note. Brother,what a sweet mess. That sounds like.
I've been in touch with Jack Fallon, who heads up the office over
there. I've got a preliminary planset up with him. He'll fill you
in on it, and Steve getover to Berlin, work with Fallon and
go anywhere into anything. You haveto smash this record once and for all.
(05:03):
Well, that's it, You've gotyour assignment. Good luck. Dangerous
Assignments starring Bryan Tom Levelly in therole of Steve Mitchell, will continue in
(05:25):
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(05:47):
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(06:12):
and you'll be delighted with Annison's incrediblyfast action. A na ci n Anison.
Ask for Anison by name today atyour druggist. Sure, I've got
my assignment. Just a little matterof dropping over to Berlin and trying to
(06:32):
smash an innocent, little kidnapping racket. And I've got an uneasy hunchet.
Somewhere along the line, I'll berunning into somebody who'll say drop dead to
me and then do their best toarrange it. It's Monday when I land
in Berlin and I head for JackFallon's office. That's a nasty mass,
Mitchell. My theory is that somebodyright here in my office has been putting
the finger on the victims. Theseapplications for building permits Fallon do they contain
(06:56):
quite a lot of information about theapplicant. Yeah, they do. You
see, to do any building inBerlin these days, you've got to have
a considerable amount of money that hasto be listed on the application. Now
that's the point, Steve. Anybodywho has access to those applications could spot
the likely kidnapped prospect. But howabout this business. It's threatening to turn
the victims over to the Eastern Zone. Well, as you can imagine,
there are a lot of Germans inour zone who have come out politically against
(07:19):
the outfit in the Eastern Zone.Are you taking a ten Germans with money
and you're pretty sure to find sevenor eight of them who've made enemies there
I see. Tell me Fallon,just who in this office has access to
those applications? Well, my officemanager can give you a better answer to
that than I can. Oh what, I was just going to call you.
I was on my way to seeyou. Have Fallen some reports for
(07:40):
you to sign. Oh, comein, I want you to meet Steve
Mitchell from the United States. MisterMitchell would like some information from you with
but of course I met you.I'd like to know how many people in
this office have access to the applicationsfor building permits? The files are available
to have Fallon, of course,and to my SERI yeah, Well the
three clerks, who are they?Frou Gun woman of about sixty, Fraulein
(08:01):
Gottlieb, a younger woman, andhere Linda. What can you tell me
about them? I mean, haveany of them ever acted in such a
way as to arouse your suspicions?It's a hard question to answer her,
Mitchell. They're all hard working people. Fraud guns for particularly, she keeps
mostly to herself, Fraulein Gottlieb.I have no problem with her other than
to keep her boyfriend from calling forher too early in the afternoon. Boyfriend,
(08:24):
she's quite friendly with an American sergeant. Sergeant, I see what about
the other one, Linda here,Linda has notified us he'll be resigning soon.
It seems he just inherited some moneyfrom the death of his uncle.
Okay, I guess that'll be allWig. Thank you, of course,
if there's any other information I cansupply him. Mitchell, do not hesitate
to caller. I won't. Well, you know any more than you did
(08:46):
before. Steve. How long hasWidgig been your office manager? Felon,
No, about a year. Iguess wait a minute, you don't think
he could have anything to do withit. Look, anybody who has access
to those files could have something todo with it. I guess you're right.
The commissioner said something about having setup a plan with you. Yeah,
he thought it might be a goodidea to have somebody file a fake
application, make it look like hewas a red hot prospect, you know,
(09:09):
Pigeon. That's what it amounts to, and we trail along and see
what happens. Yeah, it soundslike a good idea. You've got a
man for the job. A littlecharacter named Benner. It might be kind
of dangerous for him. You know, Benner will do almost anything if the
price is right. Besides, Ithink he can handle it. Okay,
he's a very cautious little chin.Never takes an elevator if there's a stairway,
you know, that sort of thing. Can we trust him? Oh
(09:30):
yeah, yeah, he's done alot of jobs for us in the past.
Excuse me, hello, Oh yesBenner, Yes, all right,
Yeah, you'll be contacted there bya man named Steve Mitchell. You're to
work with him. Well, benis on his way to the Chronic Hotel.
He's going to register there. Okay, I'll get on over there myself,
(09:54):
see you later. Flin. Ihead for the Chronic Hotel and asked
the desk perk whether the Brenner hasarrived yet. Yeah, Benner, Yeah,
you just started up the stairs.He is registered in room forty.
He's gonna climb four flights of stairs. Brother, he really is a cautious
guy. Huh, skepp it.I'm not quite that cautious. I'll take
(10:15):
the elevator. I go up tothe fourth floor and down the hall to
four h three. I start toknock on the door. But just then
the yell comes from the floor belowme. I pound down to the third
floor landing. The window of thefire escape is open and on the floor,
sprawled against the door the old roomcloset, there's a little guy with
a few assorted bruises on his face. Benner, Benner, you okay,
(10:39):
yeah, yeah, that's what happened. Somebody was waiting for me on the
landing, tried to kill me,but when I called for help, he
went down to fare escape. Heywait, oh you, hey, hey,
why the gun? I Doman don'tknow who you are. Relaxed Benner
and Steve Mitchell, a guy who'ssupposed to contact you. I must have
foof of fat here here take alook at micro dential. Yeah, brother,
(11:01):
you don't believe in taking any chancesto do you in this business?
To take chances? My poor fatalYeah? A matter of fact, this
deal looks like it's a little toofatal for you already. What do you
mean we better pull you off thecase. It looks like they're on to
you. No, I insist ongoing on with it. If you're no
good to us. If they knowwho you are, it would be a
simple matter to enter an application onanother name. Enough at this my sister
(11:22):
lives at thirty five Garden Stars,I can use house. I don't know
how Mitchell a deal was offered tome. I accepted it. I insist
at the deal stand, even afteralmost getting killed. I am used to
such things. I make a goodliving almost getting killed. Okay, I'll
have fell and Rink up another applicationfor you with thirty five gardens stretched,
(11:43):
and I'll meet you over there andwe'll wait to see who turns up for
you, and what would be yourplan in case someone dust turn off.
I'll have a police car with atwo way radio. If somebody calls for
you, I'll follow and contact someother cars and we'll all converge on this
part where they take you to well, very well, I'll go the deal
with Felon. You pack up andget over to the garden strassa dress.
I'll meet you there in an hour. I go downstairs out of the hotel,
(12:09):
and three blocks away. As I'mheading for Fallon's office, I realized
Benner forgot to tell me what namedo you use on the new appucation.
I started back to the hotel.Then I spot the crowd on the sidewalk
in front. I speed up.A couple of policemen are trying to push
the crowd back. Then I seea body on the sidewalk covered up.
Get back here, I'll get back. What happened, officers, men fell
out of the hotel window. Whatyou know who it was? Yeah,
(12:33):
yeah, it's not much less ofthe body, but we found his papers.
Was a little man named Benna Steve. This is bad. It looks
like they were on the Benner runfrom the start. Here it does felon.
He didn't just fall out of thatwindow. He was probably slugged and
pushed. It must have happened rightafter I left him. Why does that
(12:56):
leave us now? I don't know. I put in a call to the
commissioner back in the States as soonas it comes through. I suppose I
could round up another man to takeBenna's place. Yeah, the same idea
occurred to me. I'll take it. Hello, Hey, this connection is
lousy. Diggle the phone, willyou? Yeah, I said, what's
(13:18):
on your mind? I want toget married? What you heard me?
You're right in the middle of assignment. You call me all the way from
Belinda. Tell me you want toget married? Ala fella gets to thinking
about those things once in a while, Commissioner. I wanted you to be
the first to know, Commissioner.All right, all right, so you're
gonna get married. Who's the unluckygirl? I don't know. I want
you to pick her up for me, Steve. You want your mind no
more than usual. Hey, dowe have any female type agents running around
(13:41):
in this neck of the woods?Agents? I get it now, see
let's see. Yes, Marta Kaneis just finishing up an assignment in Vienna.
Martha, Hey, she speaks German, doesn't she good? Okay,
contact her and tell her to comehere to Berlin and go to the shop
department house. There's an apartment thereunder the name of Schiller. Martha is
our Frau Schiller. All right outcontact just cooking up a little gag,
(14:03):
Commissioner. If it works, Ithink we can bust this deal wide open.
Hope it doesn't work, I'll leaveyou my best hand painted neck guy,
you know, the one that lightsup in the dark. I don't
like that. Oh you want tobe a whizz with it? S See
you later, Commissioner. What areyou gonna do, Steve? We need
another clay pigeon to take nish place, don't we Yes? But okay,
so I've got me the pigeon.You mean this woman, agent, No,
(14:26):
I mean me in just a moment, Tack two of Dangerous Assignment.
Now we invite you to hear fromBob Hope on his recent visit to Hawaii.
(14:48):
Where are we on the island ofOahu. We had a very smood
trip over. At first we fluidan out dude that didn't bother me.
We had to go up hire becausethe salt water was ruining the tires.
Just here, just out of afist, we devoured a little motor trouble
the pid y'all, so everything wedon't eat overboard. A Navy cruiser picked
me up about two hours later,and all back to Dangerous Assignments and Brian
(15:18):
don Levy as Steve Mitchell, you'rereally going through with this deal? Steve?
What do you think? Felon?Okay, tell me what you want
me to do. Fill out anapplication in the name of Otto Schiller.
That's me. Give the cheft departmenta dress and make me sound like a
nice, juicy prospect. I justmarried a wealthy woman. And then stick
(15:39):
it in with the other application.Yeah, that way you won't have to
be seen around the office. Anotherthing, can we count on the cooperation
of the Berlin police? Sure?What do you need them for? A
radio car? Oh, I'll arrangethat. Okay, Well, I guess
that's it. Felon, I betterget over the apartment. Be careful,
Steve. I'll see you when it'sall over, I hope. So I
(16:04):
go over to the Shaft department houseand settled down as Otto Schiller, a
wealthy German. I'm not kidding myselfabout the various assorted things that could happen
to me, all of them bad. But I know it's the best chance
of finding out who's running this racket. I understand you want to get married,
Steve. Why Martha, come onit. You sure got to Berlin
(16:27):
and alry. I caught a planefrom Vienna soon as the commissioner contacted me,
Well, make yourself at home.It's half yours. What's to deal
all about, Steve? The commissionerdidn't give me any details, not that
I mind being missus Mitchell. Butyou mean Frau Schiller, Yeah, Frau
Schiller. Well it goes together somethinglike this, Martha. Somebody posing as
a US government official has been kidnappingwealthy Germans. If the relatives don't pay
(16:49):
off, he threatens to turn thevictims over to the Eastern Zone. Where
do you fit in? I'm thenext victim, I hope so. Well.
You know, Steve, you haven'tchanged a bit. You always did
manage to figure yourself into the sweetestspots. As the deal works, somebody
will come from me here. Youslip out the side door and downstairs the
radio car, follow us and contactthe police. Okay, what are you
(17:11):
expecting for? I don't know.It could be minutes or it could be
days. Days. Any ideas onhow here Sheila and wife are supposed to
pass the time waiting? Well?As a matter of fact, yeah that's
what I thought. Like, Isay, you haven't changed a bit.
We'd better stick to my ideas.Oh what are your ideas? Can Aston?
(17:33):
Can Aston? Look? Can't youthink of any better way to pass
the time? And hey, waita minute, sorry, I just remembered
we don't have any cards, soI guess we just have to know.
Hey, where'd that come from?My purse? Be prepared? I always
say, looks like you haven't changeda bit either, Okay, Okay,
(17:53):
deal them up a natural and fivefree jackson them out. Well, I
suppose you know that wins you anothergame? It does? I suppose you
(18:15):
also know that makes five straight games. You've cleaned me and broke. Don't
tell me your troubles, Lady,Canasta was your idea? I know,
Steve, Betta. Get into thenext room, right heah, Ido Schiller,
Yeah, I'm mister Brown from theoffice that issues building permits. Yeah,
(18:40):
regarding your recent application here, Schiller, we need some additional information.
I'm afraid I'll have to ask youto come to the office with me.
Yeah, one moment I get mycode. Well, this is it,
Martha. Haven't seen the guy before. No, but he's probably just the
leg man on the operation. Getout the side door and down to the
radio car, Martha, and thenfollow us right coming here, bron Be
(19:04):
careful, Steve. Remember I'll beright behind you in that radio car.
Martha slips out the back door ofthe apartment and I joined mister Brown in
the living room. Waker down theelevator to the straight and Brown motions toward
the curb. Here's my car,Heshumer. I sent my driver on a
(19:25):
little errand he should be back ina moment. Yeah, you wait inside,
get in, Mitchell. You heardme. You can cut out the
Yard nine routine. Inside you geta slug a little surprise party, bron.
That's right, I've got another surprisefor you too, Mitchell. I
can hardly wait. What is it? You love it? Take a look
out the window, Martha. Yeah, a little powder was going to tag
(19:48):
along in the radio car. Gether inside, Fritz. Yeah, he
was waiting for me the side door. Steve, completely gun. It is
just great. I thought you'd beoverjoyed, Mitchell. Where are we going
to see the US? Oh?Who is the boys? You'll find out,
Mitchell. Okay, Fritz, let'sget going. We take it.
(20:18):
After more of the ruined section ofthe city. We finally pull up in
front of but the deserted warehouse.Martha and I are hustled inside and tie
it up. Then Brown and Fritzleave. Doesn't look so hot for us,
does it, Steve? No,I'm sorry I got you into this.
Martha. Well, I've only gotone regret that you ever left Vienna.
Know that we wasted so much timeplaying canastes great time to have both
(20:41):
hands tied behind me. Hey,wait, I think I can twist my
hands around a little. Turn yourback to me. Maybe I can work
on your ropes. Okay, whodo you think the brains behind this deal
is? Steve? I'm afraid Iknow the answer to that now, Martha.
Look they were undo our whole routineabout the radio car. Not many
people knew about that. Benner knew, but he doesn't count. He's dead
(21:04):
at least just you and me andFallon fell You think he's the one?
Sure AT's up that way? Igot one of your ropes loose. Wait,
I worked my hands around a little. Now, God, keep it
up. But Steve Fallon's behind it. Somebody's coming. Keep your hands behind
you, Okay, Steve. Ifthey take you and leave me, I'll
try to get loose and get help. I brought someone to see you,
(21:27):
Mitchell the boss. What match Benner? But it can't be. You're dead.
You got pushed out of a hotelwindow. The opener is dead,
Mitchell, real Benner. My nameand Kesha Entersted is Linda, one of
the clerks at the office. Quiteyeah, I think I get it now.
(21:48):
Benner started up the stairway of thehotel and you were waiting for him.
On the landing. You slugged himand started to push him out the
window. Then you heard me coming, so I can see you Benner's body
in the boom closet. You assumedI was Benna, so I decided to
go along with it. After youleft, I pushed Riobena's body out the
window and I spelled the whole plan. That's how you knew about the radio
(22:08):
car routina. You've all figured outnow, Mitchell. Too bad, it's
too late. So what happens now? I was going to kill you,
Mitchell, but now I've changed mymind. Gee. Thanks, Oh you're
quite welcome. You see occurred tome that the United States agent undoubtedly possesses
much information of value to certain connectionsof mine in the Eastern zone of Berlin.
(22:30):
Why, I think they would payme a great deal of money for
you. Now, wait a minute, so I'm going to take you to
the Eastern zone. I see.Well that's a cute little plan, but
there's just one hitch in it.And what is that The borderlines of those
zones are pretty heavily patrolled. Justhow do you plan on getting me out
of this zone? Oh that's quitesimple. I've used the device before device,
(22:55):
what device you have been posing asa man named Schiller? Yuh,
all right, we will posted onthat basis. You are a resident of
the Eastern Zone who's had an accident. We are visiting in the Western Zone.
I'm your doctor turning you to theEastern Zone in an ambulance. Got
everything figured out, haven't you?Of course? Boun Yeah you will stay
here and got the girl foots ordive the ambulance. Okay, look,
(23:18):
if you think I'm gonna let youstuff me in an ambulance and then I
had hope for more cooperation from yourmenture but very well bound. Yeah,
ah, get him into the ambulancein just a moment. The conclusion of
(23:45):
dangerous assignment, ladies and gentlemen,A new nineteen fifty one for the car,
which is setting a style trend forthe future, is now at your
Ford dealers. He wants you tosee this car and to check it for
three look ahead features. The automaticride control, for example, gives you
added comfort by automatically adjusting the rideto the road. New key turn starting
(24:10):
and a rear deck lid that popsup automatically are two of the features which
give you new convenience. There's newstyle and beauty both inside and out.
New luxury lounge interiors are upholstered withrich forward craft fabrics in harmonizing shades to
compliment your choice of exterior color.And there's traditional Ford economy for the automatic
(24:32):
mileage maker matches timing to fuel chargeswith such accuracy that every drop of gasoline
is used, none wasted. Visityour Ford dealers soon, check all forty
three look ahead features, then testdrive the new fifty one Ford. You'll
agree you can pay more, butyou can't buy better. When I come
(25:03):
out of an unstrapped down a structurein the ambulance, my head is completely
bandaged except for two eye holes.There's even a strip of tape over my
mouth. So you're conscious again almostto the eastern zone, Mitchell, as
you see, the setup is complete. I'm your very doctor couching over you,
above you the bottle of blood plasmato have a two bleeding along your
(25:25):
arm under the blanket and in yourribs. Do you feel this stick?
I see you two needs to sayit's a gun. I'm holding it against
your side under the blanket. Andif you try to give any sign to
the border guard. Well, I'msure you know what will happen. The
American God. He is leaving forus to stop, of course with it's
the routine examination, an examination thatwe were passed with flying colors. He's
(25:51):
coming around to the y of theambulance ready for him, aren't we,
my friend? Okay, okay,but we got here. This Paychilla,
a resident of the Eastern Zone whohad an extent Forloy visiting in the Western
Zone. I'm returning him. Ohyou was doctor, as you see.
I tried out the papers deck.If they are his papers, my papers
and the report of the accident.Okay, just hold the phone. Want
(26:15):
to look him over there? Pleasehurry. You see the patient's day week.
I'm giving him a transfusion. Hislife depends on it. Yeah,
I spit it up. We'll takea minute. The sergeant keeps nodding as
he checks the papers. They mustbe pretty clever forgeries. Right now,
I feel like a chicken with hisneck on the block, waiting for the
(26:37):
axe. With brown guarding Martha atthe warehouse. She can't get loose and
bring help. Then it hits mea wild idea, but it might pay
off. He told the Sergeant,my life depended on a transfusion. I
look up at the bottle of plasmahanging over me, then at the rubber
tube. My wrists are strapped tothe sides of the stretcher under the blanket,
but my hands themselves are free.I can feel a rubber tube running
along in the back of my hand. I twisted my fingers around it until
(27:00):
I get a good hold of it. Then I jerked as hard as I
can. Hey, the plasma bottlebro Yeah, I got any more plasma
the ambulance. I know, Butdriver, turn the ambulance around. Wait.
Now, we've got a dispensary backabout half a mile. You can
get more plasma there. That willnot be necessary. Look, duck,
he just told me the guy Iwould have a transfusionary can't off. Yes,
what I mean is there's a hospitalin the eastern zone just three blocks
(27:22):
ahead. It'll be closer. No, Sergeant, I warn you, if
you delay us further, you maybe responsible for this patient's death. Well,
I guess you know best. Soit didn't work after all. I
can feel a gun jam harder intomy ribs under the blanket, but I
(27:45):
know he won't shoot. No,then another idea smacks me. I may
be signing my own death warrant,but it's my only chance. Now.
I twist my hand around and grabbedfor his gun hand It tries to cherk
it away, but I hold on. What's a matter that you getting kind
of pail saying this case? Sergeant, I demand you let us prosceed.
Otherwise my patient wire dying. Okay, okay. Then the sergeant stands back
(28:07):
and starts to close the door.It's now or never. I hope I
bent the gun down enough so theslug will clear me. But I can't
wait any longer. I jam mythumb against the trigger. The slug scorches
along my back. Should you whatdo you know a doctor holding a gun
on his patient? Will you'll donothing? Check out Joe crot the driver.
Now we'll tell us. Get thistake off your mouth, fell You
(28:30):
sure ain't acting like a sick gemhank sergeant, But now give me back
my must tach with it. WhySteve Mitchell, government agent getting taken with
the well known ride? Yeah?How about getting me untied? Yeah?
Should they gotta cheef? I canborrow yep. I'm gonna take somebody else
(28:52):
for a ride. I'm gonna pickup a guy named Brown and a girl
named Martha a warehouse. It makesthree of you. Three is a crowd.
We'll bump round real quick. We'llgo on. It's getting interesting.
What do you do after you dumpthis guy Brown? Well, knowing Martha
will probably play canaste. Dangerous Assignment, starring Brian Don Levy as Steve Mitchell,
(29:38):
is written by Bob Ryce and AdrianJohnDoe and music by Robert arm Brewster,
and is produced and directed by Billkarn Be will us again next week
at the same time when Brian DonLevy, starring in the role of Steve
Mitchell, will embark on another DangerousAssignment. I stay tuned for another big
(30:03):
mystery program on NBC's All Star Festival. Herbert Marshall as a man called X.
This is NBC the National Broadcasting Company. Welcome back. Well a very
solid episode of Dangerous Assignment. Mythinking was along the lines of Steve as
(30:29):
to who the mastermind was, andI think Steve's theory was the only one
that made sense. But then wefound out about the identity switch. This
was reminiscent of one of the plotlines that was used in the summer nineteen
forty nine series, but I thinkhere it was a little bit more effective,
given that the person being impersonated wasfound dead with reason for Steve not
(30:56):
to have seen the face. Ithink the idea of handing Steve over to
the other side the Eastern Block andwhatever synonams you can come up for the
Soviets was a bold stroke, andhe had a clever plan to get Steve
across and smuggle him into East Berlin, and Steve was only able to thwart
(31:18):
it through some incredible nerve and quickthinking. It shows what a radio program
can do and how good your herocan look if your feeling is actually confident
at his job. I did wondera little bit why they had left Martha
(31:38):
behind and guarded. I pretty muchhave settled on the idea that they were
going to smuggle her across later,because he's also an American agent. Probably
not quite as valuable as Steve Mitchell, because you get the idea that he
(31:59):
is hop guy the Ace and thatcapturing him would be a bigger deal.
But certainly if you've got contacts thatwill pay for one American agent, they'll
probably pay for two. Also,it was nice to hear about the nineteen
fifty one forwards and have them asa sponsor. If only so, I
(32:21):
could go and look at pictures ofthe cars, and they're fine looking cards,
you know. Visually, the fortynine through fifty one forwards are all
very similar in terms of their generalbuild. The biggest change with the fifty
one chord was the introduction of thefor Atomatic, which was the first automatic
(32:44):
transmission offered as an option in forwardvehicles. Well, now we turn to
listener comments and feedback, and westart with an email from Nancy, who
writes in, Hi, Adam,I just finished listening to Dangerous Assignment with
the Football play. I really likethat episode, especially Tony Barrett, one
of my favorites. But I haveto say that after hearing a reminder for
(33:06):
the Man Called X immediately following theshow, I feel bad for Steve Mitchell
having to compete like this each SaturdayNight. Man Called X with Herbert Marshall
is going to win hands down inthe sophisticated Spy contest every time. Poor
Steve seems more like another tired bureaucrat, just slogging through. Take care,
(33:27):
Hope you and your family are wellwell. Thank you so much, Nancy,
I appreciate your email now. Ofcourse, in a real sense,
Steve was not in competition with aman called X. Rather, it was
the lead up, and if youwere Jack Johnstone on the Man called AX,
you certainly wanted I'm going to ratingsfor a dangerous assignments so that folks
(33:52):
would stick around for the man calledX and give you the best possible audience.
It really was a bit of aone two punch. I think it's
safe to say that we imagine theideal spy as suave and sophisticated. Part
of that is because we've had Bondfilms for the past sixty years. I
(34:15):
don't think Lesteners in nineteen fifty hadthat same expectation. In many ways,
Steve is very much the type ofhero who was quite popular, the rugged
American hero who did his job andmanaged to save the day through courage,
wits and being quick on its feetwhen it mattered the most. There's definitely
(34:39):
a very odd iltest Steve in thespy genre, and Steve Mitchell, You've
got a hero who browses about hisjob, offers pushed back against what we
have to acknowledge. It is asomewhat eccentric boss. So I think a
lot of listeners in ninten fifty wouldhave found Steve Mitchell very relatable. I
(35:02):
mean, we would all like tobe in Thurston and walk into our boss's
office and tell the boss the wayit was the boss to jump, and
have him respond by asking how high, and being able to create and write
our own assignment and pretty much doour jobs with utter carte blanche. But
(35:25):
most of us aren't Ken Thurston,except in an exceptionally good dream. But
Steve Mitchell, I think, iswritten in a very different way that made
him seem like an everyman hero,you know, even though he was an
X newspaper correspondent and a graduate ofthe Abel Academy at Annapolis. So essentially,
(35:51):
with Dangerous Assignment and the man calledX, back to back you got
shows that were in some ways verysimilar but also quite different in terms of
the hero and his overall approach.And then we have a note from Sheila
who writes, poor Steve Mitchell alwaysinterrupted when he's with a woman. I
(36:13):
wonder if he ever took Ruth out. I really enjoy your shows. I
have to wait to listen to talesof the Texas Rangers. When my husband
and I are together, that's hisfavorite. I'm also catching Volume one.
Thank you for putting that together.Well, thank you so much. She
like glad you're enjoying the programs,and so glad to be getting Volume one
out. I am kind of runninga bit behind and getting the commentary for
(36:37):
season three recorded, so I've notquite gone up to the twenty episode per
week pace that I've been doing before, but I've increased it somewhat and hopefully
we will get season three started towardsthe end of March. It's definitely been
fun to go back and listen tothose episodes. Don't listen to the whole
(37:00):
ones, but it was something justto hear the excitement when I announced we
had recorded our five hundredth episode,and I don't think I had any conception
that we would get all the wayup to four thousand. Well, thank
you so much again, Sheila.And we also have a comment on Facebook.
(37:22):
Donna asked, HadAM, is thisthe year you will finally be able
to bring us Broadway? Is mybeat? Well, thank you so much
for the question, Donna. Theanswer is no, Lord willing, next
year will be the year we'll finallybring you Broadway as my Beat. It
will come after Dangerous Assignment, andif my count is correct, we have
(37:43):
sixty three more weeks of Dangerous Assignment. However, we'll also have a Summer
holiday and a Christmas Holiday week wherewe won't be recording new episodes, and
then we'll also have a Bob Baileyweek where we won't have an episode of
Dangerous Assignments. So we've got sixtysix more weeks to go. We will
(38:05):
get into Broadway as My Beat intwenty twenty four. I appreciate the patience
of everyone who enjoys that program.It's the series with the most episodes that
we haven't done yet. It hasthe fifth highest number of episodes that are
currently in circulation behind Course Truly,Johnny doll Our, Dragnette, Let George
(38:25):
do It in Boston, Blackie.So it takes a lot of space to
do that series. But it's definitelygoing to be really interesting and I'm looking
forward to getting into it. Thanksonce again for the comment, Donna,
And now it is time to thankour Patreon supporter of the day. Thank
you to Jim. Patreon supporter sinceJanuary of twenty nineteen, currently supporting us
(38:46):
at the detective sergeant level of sevendollars and fourteen cents or more per month.
Thank you so much for your support, Jim, and that will actually
do it for today. If youare enjoying this podcast, I encourage you
to follow us using your favorite podcastsoftware. And if you are enjoying the
podcast on YouTube, be sure tolock the video, subscribe to the channel,
(39:08):
and mark the notification bell. Allthose great things which helped the channel
grow. We'll be back next Wednesdaywith another episode of Dangerous Assignment. But
join us back here tomorrow for followvance where Hello Ellis, Oh, come
on in. Thank you the bossesat the barbers. What's up that mister
(39:30):
Church I told him about on thetelephone? One that was going to have
his assistant, Paul Wilson in ditedfor grandlaw's name. Yes, I overheard
your conversation. What about mister Church. There's very little about him right now.
He's dead, been shot shot.Somebody came into his house an hour
or so ago, kill him androbbed his safe which was open. Oh
golly, this Church individual was quitea character, wasn't he. He certainly
(39:51):
was. Oh, it's teasing peoplewith flowers that shoot water and stuff like
that. Yes, we know,of course the church believed Paul Wilson was
stealing from him, and Wilson knewthat Church was in contact with me.
Nothing at the house, however,to indicate who fired the shot into our
eccentric friend, Well, Vans willfind something, doesn't he always invariably.
I'm going down to the barb Isto pick him up, and after that
our first stop is going to bePaul Wilson's apartment. I hope you'll be
(40:15):
with us then. In the meantime, do send your comments to Box thirteen
at Great Detectives dot and yet,follow us on Twitter, Radio Detectives,
and check us out on Instagram,Instagram, dot com, slash Great Detectives
from Boise Idahol. This is yourhost, Adam Graham. Sign and off.
Welcome to the Great Detectives of OldTime Radio from Boise Idahole. This is
your host, Adam Graham. Ifyou have a comment, email it to
me Box thirteen at Great Detectives dotnet. Follow us on Twitter at Radio
Detectives, and check us out onInstagram, Instagram dot com slash Great Detectives.
(00:53):
To be sure and never miss anepisode of the podcast, I encourage
you to follow the podcast using yourface favorite podcast software. Our listener support
campaign continues. You can become oneof our ongoing Patreon supporters for his little
last two dollars per month. Justgo over to Patreon dot Great Detectives dot
net. Also, be sure andlisten. On Friday, we will have
(01:15):
a very special announced with that you'llwant to hear. Well. Now it's
time for this week's episode of DangerousAssignment. The original air date December the
ninth, nineteen fifty and the titleas Berlin Kidnapping Ring Oh a full hour
(01:36):
of mystery Adventure, a Saturday nightfeature of NBC's All Star Festivals. In
thirty minutes, It's the Man calledX Right Now. Dangerous Assignment, starring
Brand dun Levy as Steve Mitchell,brought to You by the makers of Addison
(02:00):
Class Relief from the Pain of headachesneritis, and Arouse You by Chesterfield,
the only cigarette that combines mildness withno unpleasant aftertaste, The cigarette that brings
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years ahead. And by RCA Victor, world leader in radio, first in
(02:25):
recorded music, first in television.Yeah, danger is my assignment. I
(02:50):
get sent to a lot of placesI can't even pronounce. They all spell
the same thing, though, trouble. But when I walk into the Commissioner's
office, I don't realize this assignment'sgoing to end up with me try my
level best to shoot myself. Goodmorning, Commissioner, Ruth said you had
an assignment for me. I do, Steve, you haven't been kidnapped.
(03:13):
Kidnapp Well, I remember a redheadonce who claimed we were out of gas.
I'm sure you put up a terrificstruggle, like a tiger at bay
m Well, that's all very interesting, but I didn't send vier to here.
Chapter thirty three of your Memoirs you'releaving for Berlin on the next plain.
I'm flying clear to Berlin so somebodycan kidnap me. Oh, you're
flying there to find out who's beenkidnapping a few other people, you know.
I think you'd better start from thebeginning, Commissioner Steve, Apparently there's
(03:35):
been a nasty little racket flourishing inour occupation zone of Berlin for some time.
It only came to light last night. What kind of a racket,
commission A prominent German named Mula waskidnapped several days ago. His wife received
a ransom note telling her that ifshe didn't raise the required money, her
husband would be turned over to interestsin the eastern zone of Berlin. Oh
apparently this Mulla had made a fewenemies there. I see, sort of
(03:57):
sell Mulla to the highest bidder.Yes, his wife raised them and Mulla
was returned. But when he triedto grab the man who returned to him,
he was shot and killed on hisown doorstep. Look, this is
all very interesting, but isn't kidnappinga matter for the Berlin police. What's
it got to do with us?I'll tell you why. It's our baby.
Apparently the kidnapper was a US governmentofficial. Why oh, look,
don't try to tell me you believethat. I'm just giving you the facts,
(04:17):
Steve. What's behind those facts wouldbe another story, and I'm convinced
it is. But that's what you'regoing over there to find out. But
I still don't see what indicates thata government official is behind it. Here's
how the day was set up.Muller had applied for a building permit several
days before he was kidnapped. Thosepermits are handled by a special office,
which is run under our supervision.A few nights later, a man who
claimed he was from that office cameto see Mule. He told Mula that
(04:41):
they needed further information before they couldissue the permit. The Mulla would have
to come to the office. Thenext thing his wife knew was when she
got the ransom note. Brother,what a sweet mess. That sounds like.
I've been in touch with Jack Fallon, who heads up the office over
there. I've got a preliminary planset up with him. He'll fill you
in on it, and Steve getover to Berlin, work with Fallon and
go anywhere into anything. You haveto smash this record once and for all.
(05:03):
Well, that's it, You've gotyour assignment. Good luck. Dangerous
Assignments starring Bryan Tom Levelly in therole of Steve Mitchell, will continue in
(05:25):
just a moment. Here is somethingyou should know if you ever suffer from
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(05:47):
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(06:12):
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Ask for Anison by name today atyour druggist. Sure, I've got
my assignment. Just a little matterof dropping over to Berlin and trying to
(06:32):
smash an innocent, little kidnapping racket. And I've got an uneasy hunchet.
Somewhere along the line, I'll berunning into somebody who'll say drop dead to
me and then do their best toarrange it. It's Monday when I land
in Berlin and I head for JackFallon's office. That's a nasty mass,
Mitchell. My theory is that somebodyright here in my office has been putting
the finger on the victims. Theseapplications for building permits Fallon do they contain
(06:56):
quite a lot of information about theapplicant. Yeah, they do. You
see, to do any building inBerlin these days, you've got to have
a considerable amount of money that hasto be listed on the application. Now
that's the point, Steve. Anybodywho has access to those applications could spot
the likely kidnapped prospect. But howabout this business. It's threatening to turn
the victims over to the Eastern Zone. Well, as you can imagine,
there are a lot of Germans inour zone who have come out politically against
(07:19):
the outfit in the Eastern Zone.Are you taking a ten Germans with money
and you're pretty sure to find sevenor eight of them who've made enemies there
I see. Tell me Fallon,just who in this office has access to
those applications? Well, my officemanager can give you a better answer to
that than I can. Oh what, I was just going to call you.
I was on my way to seeyou. Have Fallen some reports for
(07:40):
you to sign. Oh, comein, I want you to meet Steve
Mitchell from the United States. MisterMitchell would like some information from you with
but of course I met you.I'd like to know how many people in
this office have access to the applicationsfor building permits? The files are available
to have Fallon, of course,and to my SERI yeah, Well the
three clerks, who are they?Frou Gun woman of about sixty, Fraulein
(08:01):
Gottlieb, a younger woman, andhere Linda. What can you tell me
about them? I mean, haveany of them ever acted in such a
way as to arouse your suspicions?It's a hard question to answer her,
Mitchell. They're all hard working people. Fraud guns for particularly, she keeps
mostly to herself, Fraulein Gottlieb.I have no problem with her other than
to keep her boyfriend from calling forher too early in the afternoon. Boyfriend,
(08:24):
she's quite friendly with an American sergeant. Sergeant, I see what about
the other one, Linda here,Linda has notified us he'll be resigning soon.
It seems he just inherited some moneyfrom the death of his uncle.
Okay, I guess that'll be allWig. Thank you, of course,
if there's any other information I cansupply him. Mitchell, do not hesitate
to caller. I won't. Well, you know any more than you did
(08:46):
before. Steve. How long hasWidgig been your office manager? Felon,
No, about a year. Iguess wait a minute, you don't think
he could have anything to do withit. Look, anybody who has access
to those files could have something todo with it. I guess you're right.
The commissioner said something about having setup a plan with you. Yeah,
he thought it might be a goodidea to have somebody file a fake
application, make it look like hewas a red hot prospect, you know,
(09:09):
Pigeon. That's what it amounts to, and we trail along and see
what happens. Yeah, it soundslike a good idea. You've got a
man for the job. A littlecharacter named Benner. It might be kind
of dangerous for him. You know, Benner will do almost anything if the
price is right. Besides, Ithink he can handle it. Okay,
he's a very cautious little chin.Never takes an elevator if there's a stairway,
you know, that sort of thing. Can we trust him? Oh
(09:30):
yeah, yeah, he's done alot of jobs for us in the past.
Excuse me, hello, Oh yesBenner, Yes, all right,
Yeah, you'll be contacted there bya man named Steve Mitchell. You're to
work with him. Well, benis on his way to the Chronic Hotel.
He's going to register there. Okay, I'll get on over there myself,
(09:54):
see you later. Flin. Ihead for the Chronic Hotel and asked
the desk perk whether the Brenner hasarrived yet. Yeah, Benner, Yeah,
you just started up the stairs.He is registered in room forty.
He's gonna climb four flights of stairs. Brother, he really is a cautious
guy. Huh, skepp it.I'm not quite that cautious. I'll take
(10:15):
the elevator. I go up tothe fourth floor and down the hall to
four h three. I start toknock on the door. But just then
the yell comes from the floor belowme. I pound down to the third
floor landing. The window of thefire escape is open and on the floor,
sprawled against the door the old roomcloset, there's a little guy with
a few assorted bruises on his face. Benner, Benner, you okay,
(10:39):
yeah, yeah, that's what happened. Somebody was waiting for me on the
landing, tried to kill me,but when I called for help, he
went down to fare escape. Heywait, oh you, hey, hey,
why the gun? I Doman don'tknow who you are. Relaxed Benner
and Steve Mitchell, a guy who'ssupposed to contact you. I must have
foof of fat here here take alook at micro dential. Yeah, brother,
(11:01):
you don't believe in taking any chancesto do you in this business?
To take chances? My poor fatalYeah? A matter of fact, this
deal looks like it's a little toofatal for you already. What do you
mean we better pull you off thecase. It looks like they're on to
you. No, I insist ongoing on with it. If you're no
good to us. If they knowwho you are, it would be a
simple matter to enter an application onanother name. Enough at this my sister
(11:22):
lives at thirty five Garden Stars,I can use house. I don't know
how Mitchell a deal was offered tome. I accepted it. I insist
at the deal stand, even afteralmost getting killed. I am used to
such things. I make a goodliving almost getting killed. Okay, I'll
have fell and Rink up another applicationfor you with thirty five gardens stretched,
(11:43):
and I'll meet you over there andwe'll wait to see who turns up for
you, and what would be yourplan in case someone dust turn off.
I'll have a police car with atwo way radio. If somebody calls for
you, I'll follow and contact someother cars and we'll all converge on this
part where they take you to well, very well, I'll go the deal
with Felon. You pack up andget over to the garden strassa dress.
I'll meet you there in an hour. I go downstairs out of the hotel,
(12:09):
and three blocks away. As I'mheading for Fallon's office, I realized
Benner forgot to tell me what namedo you use on the new appucation.
I started back to the hotel.Then I spot the crowd on the sidewalk
in front. I speed up.A couple of policemen are trying to push
the crowd back. Then I seea body on the sidewalk covered up.
Get back here, I'll get back. What happened, officers, men fell
out of the hotel window. Whatyou know who it was? Yeah,
(12:33):
yeah, it's not much less ofthe body, but we found his papers.
Was a little man named Benna Steve. This is bad. It looks
like they were on the Benner runfrom the start. Here it does felon.
He didn't just fall out of thatwindow. He was probably slugged and
pushed. It must have happened rightafter I left him. Why does that
(12:56):
leave us now? I don't know. I put in a call to the
commissioner back in the States as soonas it comes through. I suppose I
could round up another man to takeBenna's place. Yeah, the same idea
occurred to me. I'll take it. Hello, Hey, this connection is
lousy. Diggle the phone, willyou? Yeah, I said, what's
(13:18):
on your mind? I want toget married? What you heard me?
You're right in the middle of assignment. You call me all the way from
Belinda. Tell me you want toget married? Ala fella gets to thinking
about those things once in a while, Commissioner. I wanted you to be
the first to know, Commissioner.All right, all right, so you're
gonna get married. Who's the unluckygirl? I don't know. I want
you to pick her up for me, Steve. You want your mind no
more than usual. Hey, dowe have any female type agents running around
(13:41):
in this neck of the woods?Agents? I get it now, see
let's see. Yes, Marta Kaneis just finishing up an assignment in Vienna.
Martha, Hey, she speaks German, doesn't she good? Okay,
contact her and tell her to comehere to Berlin and go to the shop
department house. There's an apartment thereunder the name of Schiller. Martha is
our Frau Schiller. All right outcontact just cooking up a little gag,
(14:03):
Commissioner. If it works, Ithink we can bust this deal wide open.
Hope it doesn't work, I'll leaveyou my best hand painted neck guy,
you know, the one that lightsup in the dark. I don't
like that. Oh you want tobe a whizz with it? S See
you later, Commissioner. What areyou gonna do, Steve? We need
another clay pigeon to take nish place, don't we Yes? But okay,
so I've got me the pigeon.You mean this woman, agent, No,
(14:26):
I mean me in just a moment, Tack two of Dangerous Assignment.
Now we invite you to hear fromBob Hope on his recent visit to Hawaii.
(14:48):
Where are we on the island ofOahu. We had a very smood
trip over. At first we fluidan out dude that didn't bother me.
We had to go up hire becausethe salt water was ruining the tires.
Just here, just out of afist, we devoured a little motor trouble
the pid y'all, so everything wedon't eat overboard. A Navy cruiser picked
me up about two hours later,and all back to Dangerous Assignments and Brian
(15:18):
don Levy as Steve Mitchell, you'rereally going through with this deal? Steve?
What do you think? Felon?Okay, tell me what you want
me to do. Fill out anapplication in the name of Otto Schiller.
That's me. Give the cheft departmenta dress and make me sound like a
nice, juicy prospect. I justmarried a wealthy woman. And then stick
(15:39):
it in with the other application.Yeah, that way you won't have to
be seen around the office. Anotherthing, can we count on the cooperation
of the Berlin police? Sure?What do you need them for? A
radio car? Oh, I'll arrangethat. Okay, Well, I guess
that's it. Felon, I betterget over the apartment. Be careful,
Steve. I'll see you when it'sall over, I hope. So I
(16:04):
go over to the Shaft department houseand settled down as Otto Schiller, a
wealthy German. I'm not kidding myselfabout the various assorted things that could happen
to me, all of them bad. But I know it's the best chance
of finding out who's running this racket. I understand you want to get married,
Steve. Why Martha, come onit. You sure got to Berlin
(16:27):
and alry. I caught a planefrom Vienna soon as the commissioner contacted me,
Well, make yourself at home.It's half yours. What's to deal
all about, Steve? The commissionerdidn't give me any details, not that
I mind being missus Mitchell. Butyou mean Frau Schiller, Yeah, Frau
Schiller. Well it goes together somethinglike this, Martha. Somebody posing as
a US government official has been kidnappingwealthy Germans. If the relatives don't pay
(16:49):
off, he threatens to turn thevictims over to the Eastern Zone. Where
do you fit in? I'm thenext victim, I hope so. Well.
You know, Steve, you haven'tchanged a bit. You always did
manage to figure yourself into the sweetestspots. As the deal works, somebody
will come from me here. Youslip out the side door and downstairs the
radio car, follow us and contactthe police. Okay, what are you
(17:11):
expecting for? I don't know.It could be minutes or it could be
days. Days. Any ideas onhow here Sheila and wife are supposed to
pass the time waiting? Well?As a matter of fact, yeah that's
what I thought. Like, Isay, you haven't changed a bit.
We'd better stick to my ideas.Oh what are your ideas? Can Aston?
(17:33):
Can Aston? Look? Can't youthink of any better way to pass
the time? And hey, waita minute, sorry, I just remembered
we don't have any cards, soI guess we just have to know.
Hey, where'd that come from?My purse? Be prepared? I always
say, looks like you haven't changeda bit either, Okay, Okay,
(17:53):
deal them up a natural and fivefree jackson them out. Well, I
suppose you know that wins you anothergame? It does? I suppose you
(18:15):
also know that makes five straight games. You've cleaned me and broke. Don't
tell me your troubles, Lady,Canasta was your idea? I know,
Steve, Betta. Get into thenext room, right heah, Ido Schiller,
Yeah, I'm mister Brown from theoffice that issues building permits. Yeah,
(18:40):
regarding your recent application here, Schiller, we need some additional information.
I'm afraid I'll have to ask youto come to the office with me.
Yeah, one moment I get mycode. Well, this is it,
Martha. Haven't seen the guy before. No, but he's probably just the
leg man on the operation. Getout the side door and down to the
radio car, Martha, and thenfollow us right coming here, bron Be
(19:04):
careful, Steve. Remember I'll beright behind you in that radio car.
Martha slips out the back door ofthe apartment and I joined mister Brown in
the living room. Waker down theelevator to the straight and Brown motions toward
the curb. Here's my car,Heshumer. I sent my driver on a
(19:25):
little errand he should be back ina moment. Yeah, you wait inside,
get in, Mitchell. You heardme. You can cut out the
Yard nine routine. Inside you geta slug a little surprise party, bron.
That's right, I've got another surprisefor you too, Mitchell. I
can hardly wait. What is it? You love it? Take a look
out the window, Martha. Yeah, a little powder was going to tag
(19:48):
along in the radio car. Gether inside, Fritz. Yeah, he
was waiting for me the side door. Steve, completely gun. It is
just great. I thought you'd beoverjoyed, Mitchell. Where are we going
to see the US? Oh?Who is the boys? You'll find out,
Mitchell. Okay, Fritz, let'sget going. We take it.
(20:18):
After more of the ruined section ofthe city. We finally pull up in
front of but the deserted warehouse.Martha and I are hustled inside and tie
it up. Then Brown and Fritzleave. Doesn't look so hot for us,
does it, Steve? No,I'm sorry I got you into this.
Martha. Well, I've only gotone regret that you ever left Vienna.
Know that we wasted so much timeplaying canastes great time to have both
(20:41):
hands tied behind me. Hey,wait, I think I can twist my
hands around a little. Turn yourback to me. Maybe I can work
on your ropes. Okay, whodo you think the brains behind this deal
is? Steve? I'm afraid Iknow the answer to that now, Martha.
Look they were undo our whole routineabout the radio car. Not many
people knew about that. Benner knew, but he doesn't count. He's dead
(21:04):
at least just you and me andFallon fell You think he's the one?
Sure AT's up that way? Igot one of your ropes loose. Wait,
I worked my hands around a little. Now, God, keep it
up. But Steve Fallon's behind it. Somebody's coming. Keep your hands behind
you, Okay, Steve. Ifthey take you and leave me, I'll
try to get loose and get help. I brought someone to see you,
(21:27):
Mitchell the boss. What match Benner? But it can't be. You're dead.
You got pushed out of a hotelwindow. The opener is dead,
Mitchell, real Benner. My nameand Kesha Entersted is Linda, one of
the clerks at the office. Quiteyeah, I think I get it now.
(21:48):
Benner started up the stairway of thehotel and you were waiting for him.
On the landing. You slugged himand started to push him out the
window. Then you heard me coming, so I can see you Benner's body
in the boom closet. You assumedI was Benna, so I decided to
go along with it. After youleft, I pushed Riobena's body out the
window and I spelled the whole plan. That's how you knew about the radio
(22:08):
car routina. You've all figured outnow, Mitchell. Too bad, it's
too late. So what happens now? I was going to kill you,
Mitchell, but now I've changed mymind. Gee. Thanks, Oh you're
quite welcome. You see occurred tome that the United States agent undoubtedly possesses
much information of value to certain connectionsof mine in the Eastern zone of Berlin.
(22:30):
Why, I think they would payme a great deal of money for
you. Now, wait a minute, so I'm going to take you to
the Eastern zone. I see.Well that's a cute little plan, but
there's just one hitch in it.And what is that The borderlines of those
zones are pretty heavily patrolled. Justhow do you plan on getting me out
of this zone? Oh that's quitesimple. I've used the device before device,
(22:55):
what device you have been posing asa man named Schiller? Yuh,
all right, we will posted onthat basis. You are a resident of
the Eastern Zone who's had an accident. We are visiting in the Western Zone.
I'm your doctor turning you to theEastern Zone in an ambulance. Got
everything figured out, haven't you?Of course? Boun Yeah you will stay
here and got the girl foots ordive the ambulance. Okay, look,
(23:18):
if you think I'm gonna let youstuff me in an ambulance and then I
had hope for more cooperation from yourmenture but very well bound. Yeah,
ah, get him into the ambulancein just a moment. The conclusion of
(23:45):
dangerous assignment, ladies and gentlemen,A new nineteen fifty one for the car,
which is setting a style trend forthe future, is now at your
Ford dealers. He wants you tosee this car and to check it for
three look ahead features. The automaticride control, for example, gives you
added comfort by automatically adjusting the rideto the road. New key turn starting
(24:10):
and a rear deck lid that popsup automatically are two of the features which
give you new convenience. There's newstyle and beauty both inside and out.
New luxury lounge interiors are upholstered withrich forward craft fabrics in harmonizing shades to
compliment your choice of exterior color.And there's traditional Ford economy for the automatic
(24:32):
mileage maker matches timing to fuel chargeswith such accuracy that every drop of gasoline
is used, none wasted. Visityour Ford dealers soon, check all forty
three look ahead features, then testdrive the new fifty one Ford. You'll
agree you can pay more, butyou can't buy better. When I come
(25:03):
out of an unstrapped down a structurein the ambulance, my head is completely
bandaged except for two eye holes.There's even a strip of tape over my
mouth. So you're conscious again almostto the eastern zone, Mitchell, as
you see, the setup is complete. I'm your very doctor couching over you,
above you the bottle of blood plasmato have a two bleeding along your
(25:25):
arm under the blanket and in yourribs. Do you feel this stick?
I see you two needs to sayit's a gun. I'm holding it against
your side under the blanket. Andif you try to give any sign to
the border guard. Well, I'msure you know what will happen. The
American God. He is leaving forus to stop, of course with it's
the routine examination, an examination thatwe were passed with flying colors. He's
(25:51):
coming around to the y of theambulance ready for him, aren't we,
my friend? Okay, okay,but we got here. This Paychilla,
a resident of the Eastern Zone whohad an extent Forloy visiting in the Western
Zone. I'm returning him. Ohyou was doctor, as you see.
I tried out the papers deck.If they are his papers, my papers
and the report of the accident.Okay, just hold the phone. Want
(26:15):
to look him over there? Pleasehurry. You see the patient's day week.
I'm giving him a transfusion. Hislife depends on it. Yeah,
I spit it up. We'll takea minute. The sergeant keeps nodding as
he checks the papers. They mustbe pretty clever forgeries. Right now,
I feel like a chicken with hisneck on the block, waiting for the
(26:37):
axe. With brown guarding Martha atthe warehouse. She can't get loose and
bring help. Then it hits mea wild idea, but it might pay
off. He told the Sergeant,my life depended on a transfusion. I
look up at the bottle of plasmahanging over me, then at the rubber
tube. My wrists are strapped tothe sides of the stretcher under the blanket,
but my hands themselves are free.I can feel a rubber tube running
along in the back of my hand. I twisted my fingers around it until
(27:00):
I get a good hold of it. Then I jerked as hard as I
can. Hey, the plasma bottlebro Yeah, I got any more plasma
the ambulance. I know, Butdriver, turn the ambulance around. Wait.
Now, we've got a dispensary backabout half a mile. You can
get more plasma there. That willnot be necessary. Look, duck,
he just told me the guy Iwould have a transfusionary can't off. Yes,
what I mean is there's a hospitalin the eastern zone just three blocks
(27:22):
ahead. It'll be closer. No, Sergeant, I warn you, if
you delay us further, you maybe responsible for this patient's death. Well,
I guess you know best. Soit didn't work after all. I
can feel a gun jam harder intomy ribs under the blanket, but I
(27:45):
know he won't shoot. No,then another idea smacks me. I may
be signing my own death warrant,but it's my only chance. Now.
I twist my hand around and grabbedfor his gun hand It tries to cherk
it away, but I hold on. What's a matter that you getting kind
of pail saying this case? Sergeant, I demand you let us prosceed.
Otherwise my patient wire dying. Okay, okay. Then the sergeant stands back
(28:07):
and starts to close the door.It's now or never. I hope I
bent the gun down enough so theslug will clear me. But I can't
wait any longer. I jam mythumb against the trigger. The slug scorches
along my back. Should you whatdo you know a doctor holding a gun
on his patient? Will you'll donothing? Check out Joe crot the driver.
Now we'll tell us. Get thistake off your mouth, fell You
(28:30):
sure ain't acting like a sick gemhank sergeant, But now give me back
my must tach with it. WhySteve Mitchell, government agent getting taken with
the well known ride? Yeah?How about getting me untied? Yeah?
Should they gotta cheef? I canborrow yep. I'm gonna take somebody else
(28:52):
for a ride. I'm gonna pickup a guy named Brown and a girl
named Martha a warehouse. It makesthree of you. Three is a crowd.
We'll bump round real quick. We'llgo on. It's getting interesting.
What do you do after you dumpthis guy Brown? Well, knowing Martha
will probably play canaste. Dangerous Assignment, starring Brian Don Levy as Steve Mitchell,
(29:38):
is written by Bob Ryce and AdrianJohnDoe and music by Robert arm Brewster,
and is produced and directed by Billkarn Be will us again next week
at the same time when Brian DonLevy, starring in the role of Steve
Mitchell, will embark on another DangerousAssignment. I stay tuned for another big
(30:03):
mystery program on NBC's All Star Festival. Herbert Marshall as a man called X.
This is NBC the National Broadcasting Company. Welcome back. Well a very
solid episode of Dangerous Assignment. Mythinking was along the lines of Steve as
(30:29):
to who the mastermind was, andI think Steve's theory was the only one
that made sense. But then wefound out about the identity switch. This
was reminiscent of one of the plotlines that was used in the summer nineteen
forty nine series, but I thinkhere it was a little bit more effective,
given that the person being impersonated wasfound dead with reason for Steve not
(30:56):
to have seen the face. Ithink the idea of handing Steve over to
the other side the Eastern Block andwhatever synonams you can come up for the
Soviets was a bold stroke, andhe had a clever plan to get Steve
across and smuggle him into East Berlin, and Steve was only able to thwart
(31:18):
it through some incredible nerve and quickthinking. It shows what a radio program
can do and how good your herocan look if your feeling is actually confident
at his job. I did wondera little bit why they had left Martha
(31:38):
behind and guarded. I pretty muchhave settled on the idea that they were
going to smuggle her across later,because he's also an American agent. Probably
not quite as valuable as Steve Mitchell, because you get the idea that he
(31:59):
is hop guy the Ace and thatcapturing him would be a bigger deal.
But certainly if you've got contacts thatwill pay for one American agent, they'll
probably pay for two. Also,it was nice to hear about the nineteen
fifty one forwards and have them asa sponsor. If only so, I
(32:21):
could go and look at pictures ofthe cars, and they're fine looking cards,
you know. Visually, the fortynine through fifty one forwards are all
very similar in terms of their generalbuild. The biggest change with the fifty
one chord was the introduction of thefor Atomatic, which was the first automatic
(32:44):
transmission offered as an option in forwardvehicles. Well, now we turn to
listener comments and feedback, and westart with an email from Nancy, who
writes in, Hi, Adam,I just finished listening to Dangerous Assignment with
the Football play. I really likethat episode, especially Tony Barrett, one
of my favorites. But I haveto say that after hearing a reminder for
(33:06):
the Man Called X immediately following theshow, I feel bad for Steve Mitchell
having to compete like this each SaturdayNight. Man Called X with Herbert Marshall
is going to win hands down inthe sophisticated Spy contest every time. Poor
Steve seems more like another tired bureaucrat, just slogging through. Take care,
(33:27):
Hope you and your family are wellwell. Thank you so much, Nancy,
I appreciate your email now. Ofcourse, in a real sense,
Steve was not in competition with aman called X. Rather, it was
the lead up, and if youwere Jack Johnstone on the Man called AX,
you certainly wanted I'm going to ratingsfor a dangerous assignments so that folks
(33:52):
would stick around for the man calledX and give you the best possible audience.
It really was a bit of aone two punch. I think it's
safe to say that we imagine theideal spy as suave and sophisticated. Part
of that is because we've had Bondfilms for the past sixty years. I
(34:15):
don't think Lesteners in nineteen fifty hadthat same expectation. In many ways,
Steve is very much the type ofhero who was quite popular, the rugged
American hero who did his job andmanaged to save the day through courage,
wits and being quick on its feetwhen it mattered the most. There's definitely
(34:39):
a very odd iltest Steve in thespy genre, and Steve Mitchell, You've
got a hero who browses about hisjob, offers pushed back against what we
have to acknowledge. It is asomewhat eccentric boss. So I think a
lot of listeners in ninten fifty wouldhave found Steve Mitchell very relatable. I
(35:02):
mean, we would all like tobe in Thurston and walk into our boss's
office and tell the boss the wayit was the boss to jump, and
have him respond by asking how high, and being able to create and write
our own assignment and pretty much doour jobs with utter carte blanche. But
(35:25):
most of us aren't Ken Thurston,except in an exceptionally good dream. But
Steve Mitchell, I think, iswritten in a very different way that made
him seem like an everyman hero,you know, even though he was an
X newspaper correspondent and a graduate ofthe Abel Academy at Annapolis. So essentially,
(35:51):
with Dangerous Assignment and the man calledX, back to back you got
shows that were in some ways verysimilar but also quite different in terms of
the hero and his overall approach.And then we have a note from Sheila
who writes, poor Steve Mitchell alwaysinterrupted when he's with a woman. I
(36:13):
wonder if he ever took Ruth out. I really enjoy your shows. I
have to wait to listen to talesof the Texas Rangers. When my husband
and I are together, that's hisfavorite. I'm also catching Volume one.
Thank you for putting that together.Well, thank you so much. She
like glad you're enjoying the programs,and so glad to be getting Volume one
out. I am kind of runninga bit behind and getting the commentary for
(36:37):
season three recorded, so I've notquite gone up to the twenty episode per
week pace that I've been doing before, but I've increased it somewhat and hopefully
we will get season three started towardsthe end of March. It's definitely been
fun to go back and listen tothose episodes. Don't listen to the whole
(37:00):
ones, but it was something justto hear the excitement when I announced we
had recorded our five hundredth episode,and I don't think I had any conception
that we would get all the wayup to four thousand. Well, thank
you so much again, Sheila.And we also have a comment on Facebook.
(37:22):
Donna asked, HadAM, is thisthe year you will finally be able
to bring us Broadway? Is mybeat? Well, thank you so much
for the question, Donna. Theanswer is no, Lord willing, next
year will be the year we'll finallybring you Broadway as my Beat. It
will come after Dangerous Assignment, andif my count is correct, we have
(37:43):
sixty three more weeks of Dangerous Assignment. However, we'll also have a Summer
holiday and a Christmas Holiday week wherewe won't be recording new episodes, and
then we'll also have a Bob Baileyweek where we won't have an episode of
Dangerous Assignments. So we've got sixtysix more weeks to go. We will
(38:05):
get into Broadway as My Beat intwenty twenty four. I appreciate the patience
of everyone who enjoys that program.It's the series with the most episodes that
we haven't done yet. It hasthe fifth highest number of episodes that are
currently in circulation behind Course Truly,Johnny doll Our, Dragnette, Let George
(38:25):
do It in Boston, Blackie.So it takes a lot of space to
do that series. But it's definitelygoing to be really interesting and I'm looking
forward to getting into it. Thanksonce again for the comment, Donna,
And now it is time to thankour Patreon supporter of the day. Thank
you to Jim. Patreon supporter sinceJanuary of twenty nineteen, currently supporting us
(38:46):
at the detective sergeant level of sevendollars and fourteen cents or more per month.
Thank you so much for your support, Jim, and that will actually
do it for today. If youare enjoying this podcast, I encourage you
to follow us using your favorite podcastsoftware. And if you are enjoying the
podcast on YouTube, be sure tolock the video, subscribe to the channel,
(39:08):
and mark the notification bell. Allthose great things which helped the channel
grow. We'll be back next Wednesdaywith another episode of Dangerous Assignment. But
join us back here tomorrow for followvance where Hello Ellis, Oh, come
on in. Thank you the bossesat the barbers. What's up that mister
(39:30):
Church I told him about on thetelephone? One that was going to have
his assistant, Paul Wilson in ditedfor grandlaw's name. Yes, I overheard
your conversation. What about mister Church. There's very little about him right now.
He's dead, been shot shot.Somebody came into his house an hour
or so ago, kill him androbbed his safe which was open. Oh
golly, this Church individual was quitea character, wasn't he. He certainly
(39:51):
was. Oh, it's teasing peoplewith flowers that shoot water and stuff like
that. Yes, we know,of course the church believed Paul Wilson was
stealing from him, and Wilson knewthat Church was in contact with me.
Nothing at the house, however,to indicate who fired the shot into our
eccentric friend, Well, Vans willfind something, doesn't he always invariably.
I'm going down to the barb Isto pick him up, and after that
our first stop is going to bePaul Wilson's apartment. I hope you'll be
(40:15):
with us then. In the meantime, do send your comments to Box thirteen
at Great Detectives dot and yet,follow us on Twitter, Radio Detectives,
and check us out on Instagram,Instagram, dot com, slash Great Detectives
from Boise Idahol. This is yourhost, Adam Graham. Sign and off.
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