May 6, 2025 • 29 mins
A high-adventure anthology series that transports listeners to exotic locales and thrilling situations. Each episode offers an escape into suspenseful and action-packed narratives.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Escape.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Escape tonight to a fabulous world where there is a
Diamond as Big as the Ritz.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
A Columbia Broadcasting system and it's affiliated stations presents Escape,
a new series of programs, of which this the third
is The Diamond As Big as the Rents by F.
Scott Fitzgerald, produced and directed by William N.
Speaker 4 (00:32):
Robson.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
In a country as large as ours, there are many
odd and wonderful corners hidden away, but none more fabulous
and wonderful than the one conceived in the imagination of F.
Scott Fitzgerald and located in the pages of his famous
short story The Diamond As Big as the Ritz. It
is described in the words of John twenty years old,
(01:01):
impressionable and quite willing to swear to the truth of
this whole strange affair.
Speaker 5 (01:07):
I've been going to the Saint Midas Prep school for
a couple of years, and this was my second summer vacation.
I'd met this fellow, Percy Washington, during the winter and
got to be pretty good friends with him.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Only I didn't know about.
Speaker 5 (01:18):
His family, or where he came from, or anything like that.
Of course, I knew he must be rich, because Hall
of fellas a Saint Midas come from wealthy families. So
when he invited me to spend the summer at his
home out west someplace, that was okay by me. Well,
we've been on the train overnight when he first mentioned it.
I don't even remember now what led up to it.
We've been talking about first one thing and then another.
(01:44):
Exactly where is your home, Percy?
Speaker 1 (01:46):
I mean you bought the train tickets and all.
Speaker 6 (01:48):
It's in Montana, sort of Montana. Oh, yes, it's pretty
wild country, isn't it. Some of it is.
Speaker 5 (01:57):
When I you take Haites, Missouri, where I come from,
it's been settled for one hundred and fifty years, one
of the first times on the Mississippi River.
Speaker 6 (02:04):
Indeed. Oh sure, that's very interesting.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Huh.
Speaker 5 (02:08):
I sure do appreciate you not making jokes about it,
you know the way some of the fellows do when
I say I come from Hades.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Why my father's plantations?
Speaker 6 (02:16):
John, Do you know that my father is the richest
man in the world. Uh? By far the riches.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Well, I read about a man that paid taxes on
a five million dollar income.
Speaker 6 (02:27):
Small fry. If my father paid tax on his real income,
he disrupt the whole economy. Of the United States.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
No kidding. I like rich people, and the richer fellow
is the better. I like him.
Speaker 6 (02:39):
My father could buy out all the millionaires in the
country and not even know he had done it.
Speaker 5 (02:44):
Is that a fact? Why visit that the Schlitzer Murphy's
once they're plenty of rich? Why their daughter Vivian's got
rubies as big as hens, eggs and sapphires that glue
like headlamps.
Speaker 6 (02:54):
I like jewels, always have. I used to collect them
instead of stamps and diamonds. For the Schlitzer Murphy's had
diamonds as big as walnuts. Oh that's nothing, huh, nothing
at all. My father has a diamond as big as
the Ritz. Please, I'm not joking, but.
Speaker 5 (03:15):
You mean as big as the Ritz Carlton Hotel exactly.
Speaker 6 (03:19):
My father has a diamond as.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Big as the Ritz. Well, from there on it was
something like a dream.
Speaker 5 (03:31):
We got off the train about dusk at a little
whistle stop called Fish, Montana. There wasn't anything there, not
even a station, just a broken down old buggy and
four or five sheep herders lounging beside the track, and
I suppose wondering who we were anyway, Percy and I
climbed into the buggy, and without saying a word, the
driver cracked his whip and off we went.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
I don't know how far we traveled. We didn't seem
to be following any road.
Speaker 5 (04:05):
After an hour or so, it got dark, but the
driver kept right on, never saying a word.
Speaker 6 (04:14):
I hope you'll pardon this inconvenience, John, but we have
to take certain precautions, you know.
Speaker 5 (04:19):
Oh, that's all right.
Speaker 6 (04:21):
Anyway, we're almost there your home, you mean, oh, no,
to the place where we consider it safe to transfer
transfer What do you mean? There's the signal now, headlights
well up, the haws absom here we.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Are an automobile. But well there's no road.
Speaker 6 (04:38):
Oh, this car is specially built, doesn't need roads.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
Welcome home, Muster.
Speaker 6 (04:43):
Good evening, Gigson. Oh, come on, John, let's get in.
Speaker 5 (04:48):
That door opened by it so sonically controlled?
Speaker 1 (04:51):
You know.
Speaker 5 (04:52):
Gosh, what's this car made out of?
Speaker 7 (04:55):
Silver?
Speaker 6 (04:56):
No platinum? And those are emeralds in the hubcaps, in
the upholstering. It's per mink.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
You already must have.
Speaker 6 (05:05):
Anytime, Gigsum. You've probably noticed the exceptional brightness of the headlights,
the lenses are cut from diamonds. Boy, what a car
in this old junkie We use it for a station wagon.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
What are we stopping for? This is just the deserted canyon.
Speaker 6 (05:35):
Oh, we're not there yet, John, it's a little further.
Wait you'll see.
Speaker 8 (05:39):
Hell, oh, Percy, what's that the noise they're sending the
hooks down hooks, Yes, to attach to the wheels.
Speaker 6 (05:51):
You know that's what Gigxon is doing now. But oh yes,
I forgot to mention. Gigson will look after you during
the visit. Look after me, you're personal valet. Of course
there'll be other slaves available too, whenever you need them.
Speaker 7 (06:05):
Do you have a lot of slaves?
Speaker 9 (06:07):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (06:07):
Three or four hundred? I suppose already, Gigsum.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
Yes, must hello a store.
Speaker 5 (06:22):
Look we're leaving the ground.
Speaker 6 (06:24):
Yes, there's a hois step there on top of the
cliff has cables about a quarter.
Speaker 5 (06:29):
Of a mile long.
Speaker 6 (06:30):
But what four Oh it's the only way in.
Speaker 5 (06:34):
Imagine hoisting an automobile a quarter of a mile up
the side of a cliff.
Speaker 6 (06:38):
It's nothing really, As you may have guessed, John, this
is not going to be like anything you ever saw
before in your life. Well, John, there it is that's
(07:00):
your home.
Speaker 5 (07:02):
Oh it's magnificent, placial.
Speaker 6 (07:06):
It's not a bad little place.
Speaker 7 (07:08):
How big is it?
Speaker 6 (07:09):
I suppose you mean the number of rooms. I think
it's around one hundred and forty, but Father may remember exactly. Then,
of course there are other buildings, slaves, quarters and things.
Speaker 5 (07:20):
Why has anybody ever found out about it?
Speaker 1 (07:22):
This place? I mean, well, for.
Speaker 6 (07:24):
One thing, it's the only five square miles in the
United States that have never been surveyed.
Speaker 7 (07:30):
Huh why not?
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (07:33):
Things were arranged.
Speaker 5 (07:35):
I don't see how that's possible.
Speaker 6 (07:36):
Believe me, it hasn't been easy. I understand. Grandfather had
to bribe three government bureaus, a vice president, and half
of Congress ones to keep this place off of the maps.
Speaker 5 (07:46):
Oh but surely somebody stumbled on to it.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Prospectors people like that.
Speaker 6 (07:51):
Oh, yes, that happens occasionally. Then, of course we have
to arrange things. You mean, not always. Usually we just
take them prisoner and keep them same as the aviators.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Oh, planes come here.
Speaker 6 (08:03):
Well, once in a while they fly over. Of course
they never get away. We have nine anti aircraft batteries
around the hill here.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
You shoot them down.
Speaker 6 (08:14):
Oh, yes, great sport. It does upset mother a bit, though,
and there's always a chance that one might get away.
That's father's greatest worry.
Speaker 5 (08:24):
This place, this whole thing, it's fantastic.
Speaker 6 (08:28):
Oh, come now, John, I picked you for a fellow
with his feet on the ground, and you haven't seen
anything yet. You know this is only the beginning.
Speaker 7 (08:47):
And it was only the beginning.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
We crossed the acres of lawn and entered the great Chateau,
and from that moment on, vision upon vision tumble together
in a gigantic kaleidoscope of color, symmetry and exquisite harmony.
But there were corridors lined with gleaming crystals, lit by
lamps cut from emerald, And there were great halls carpeted
with chinchilla fur and ermine, and some with floors of
(09:12):
clear transparency flaming in the shifting glow of a myriad
colored fire beneath them. And there was a white haired man,
pink faced and pleasant, who was Percy's father, and a
lovely lady with dark hair piled high on her head
like a fragile queen, who was Percy's mother. Soft music
(09:36):
came from hidden places, perfumes filled the air, Exotic foods
and wines more rare than pearls. And finally, sitting in
my chair in the Great banquet Hall, I quietly fell asleep.
(09:57):
I thought there could be no more nor greater wonders.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
I was wrong.
Speaker 5 (10:01):
There were many more and greater ones, and one of
them I discovered the next morning in the garden. Hello man,
huh oh, oh, you're lovely.
Speaker 9 (10:22):
My name is Kismarin. You're John Hunger and you're a
friend of my brother.
Speaker 5 (10:27):
Are you from the East, No, well, at least not exactly.
I'm from Hades, Oh, Missouri.
Speaker 9 (10:36):
Would you like to sit down here on the grass.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Well, yeah, sure I would.
Speaker 9 (10:40):
I'm going east to school this fall. Do you suppose
I like it?
Speaker 7 (10:43):
I think so.
Speaker 5 (10:44):
Of course it'll be different from all this.
Speaker 9 (10:46):
Well that's what Jasmine says. And she's in the east.
Now I've never been outside.
Speaker 7 (10:51):
Who's Jasmine?
Speaker 9 (10:52):
My sister. She's older than I am.
Speaker 5 (10:57):
I hope you won't be offended. But you're the most
beautiful girl I've ever seen.
Speaker 9 (11:03):
Yes, I know what. Ha I surprised you didn't I
a year ago I would have said thank you. But
father says it's very necessary to learn to take things
for granted. So now I just take it for granted
that I'm beautiful.
Speaker 5 (11:15):
You see, you're pretty sophisticated, aren't you.
Speaker 9 (11:18):
Oh, I'm not at all. I think sophisticated young people
are terribly common. I'm not a bit like that.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
I didn't really mean it.
Speaker 5 (11:25):
I only said it to tease you.
Speaker 9 (11:27):
Well, I'm glad. I wouldn't want you to think anything
like that.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Why.
Speaker 9 (11:31):
I don't smoke or drink even And I never read
a thing he'd said poetry.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
I was only kiddened.
Speaker 9 (11:37):
I believe girls should enjoy their youth in a wholesome
sort of way.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
Oh so do I I like you, John.
Speaker 9 (11:44):
I wish you'd spend some of your time with me
this summer, not all with Percy.
Speaker 5 (11:48):
Oh, I will kiss mine, I will.
Speaker 9 (11:50):
You may be in love with me if you'd like to.
I'm absolutely fresh ground.
Speaker 5 (11:54):
You know I am in love with you.
Speaker 9 (11:57):
But of course we'll have to meet secretly. My parents
wouldn't if they knew, and that's what we'll do. Well,
I have to go now. I'm supposed to be with
mother at eleven. Uh aren't you going to ask me
for a kiss? Jasmine says, boys always do nowadays.
Speaker 5 (12:12):
Well, some of them do, but not me, We don't
expect nice girls to do that sort of thing. In hades,
it was.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
A funny thing.
Speaker 5 (12:29):
Percy's family were polite, friendly, always smiling, and yet all
the time I had a feeling that some terrible and
golden mystery lay hidden just around the corner. A few
days after I'd met kids mind, Percy remarked casually that
an unusual event had occurred, a man had escaped from
the cage. I didn't know what he meant then, but
(12:52):
the next morning I was walking with Percy's father on
the grounds of the estate.
Speaker 4 (12:56):
The slaves quarters are there, Miss Dangun.
Speaker 5 (12:59):
Oh, yes, they're very nice.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
Very adequate.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
During one period of my youth, I became absurdly idealistic
and allowed them to live in luxury. I even equipped
their rooms with tiled bars.
Speaker 5 (13:12):
I suppose they used the bath tubs to keep coal in,
Mister Schlitzer murphatized.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Imagine the opinions of mister Schlitzer Murphy are of little importance.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
They did not use the tubs for coal. They bathed
in them.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Unfortunately, several caught cold and died, so of course I
had the baths removed.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Shall we move on, mister Washington.
Speaker 5 (13:33):
Percy said something about a man escaping from the cage.
I didn't quite get it.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
The cage.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Eh, well, perhaps you'd like to see it might prove interesting,
just as novelty.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
It's over here.
Speaker 7 (13:46):
These trees.
Speaker 5 (13:47):
They're sixty feet tall and they have roses blooming all
over them.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Rather interesting development by a Swiss botanist.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
They're the only ones in the world.
Speaker 5 (13:56):
I'll be time, though. I suppose you'll see them all
over the country a few years.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
No, no, these are the only ones that was arranged.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Here.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
Here we are the cage.
Speaker 5 (14:10):
It's a pit dug in the ground, the grating on top.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Oh, yes, it's not really a cage, except in a
certain sense.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
Well boys, how are you getting along, sir?
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (14:29):
How many men are down there?
Speaker 4 (14:30):
About fifty years? I recalled?
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Oh are they oh?
Speaker 4 (14:34):
Aviators?
Speaker 2 (14:34):
We've shut down wandering prospectors, men of that sort.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Yes, But why are they kept there?
Speaker 2 (14:40):
They've all had the common misfortune of having discovered El Dorado. Gentlemen,
I'm sure you'd like to know that your companion, who
departed without my permission, has been taken care of.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
He was shot.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
He was shot by some of by agents in fourteen
different places golfed, mister Unger.
Speaker 5 (15:09):
They found them, then a man who got away.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Those places were towns. My agents were over eager. None
of them could offer a positive identification. I am afraid
the man may still be at large.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
So you see, it's not all utopia, Hair. We do
have our difficulties.
Speaker 5 (15:27):
Isn't it a little unnecessary holding them like that?
Speaker 4 (15:29):
We're not at all. It's the only way to keep
this place hidden.
Speaker 5 (15:33):
Yes, I guess that must be important. Percy was telling
me something on the train. I thought he was just kidding,
but he said, you had a diamond as big as
the Ritz Carlton Hotel.
Speaker 6 (15:44):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Yes, yes, indeed, as a matter of fact, it's much
bigger than the Rits, much bigger.
Speaker 5 (15:58):
Well, summer went on, and I was more and more
in love with Kismine. Oh she was priceless, exquisite, like
no other girl in the world. After a couple of weeks,
I'd kissed her, of course, and I was really in
love for the first time.
Speaker 6 (16:16):
Oh.
Speaker 5 (16:16):
I should have known. I should have put two and
two together when Percy's father showed me the cage, but
I didn't until one morning late in the summer. I'd
slipped off with Kismine into the rose garden, kis mine.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
I think we ought to elope.
Speaker 9 (16:32):
Oh, I don't know. It would be much nicer to
be married here, But then it would be more romantic
to a lope.
Speaker 5 (16:38):
Yeah, all the Sunday supplements would write stories about fabulous
heiress elopes with.
Speaker 9 (16:45):
You are fabulous.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
You know.
Speaker 9 (16:46):
I knew an heiress from Omaha once. I don't think
you'd like her. She visited my sister here.
Speaker 5 (16:52):
Oh you've had other guests Nnah.
Speaker 9 (16:54):
Well, yes, we've had a few.
Speaker 5 (16:57):
Wasn't your father ever afraid they might talk outside to
some extent?
Speaker 9 (17:02):
Oh, let's talk about something pleasanter but.
Speaker 5 (17:05):
So unpleasant about it?
Speaker 9 (17:07):
Well, I grew quite fond of some of them.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
You mean they told and your father.
Speaker 9 (17:13):
Oh, they didn't get a chance to Father had to
be sure.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
That's murder.
Speaker 9 (17:19):
What else could we do in the cage. Well, they'd
have been a constant reproach to us. And father does
it so nicely. They're always drugged in their sleep, and
then we tell their families they died of scarlet fever
and butte, I'm not sure how that affects the statistics there.
Of all the horrible it is not, after all, be
terribly boring here without ever having anybody. Why father and
(17:42):
mother have sacrificed some of their best friends.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Well, you're no better than the r.
Speaker 5 (17:48):
Well then that's what they planned to.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Do with me.
Speaker 9 (17:50):
Oh couldn't you forget it and be nice to me
until you've put away? It's only for two or three weeks.
Speaker 5 (17:57):
You'd go on this way, kissing, talking about love when
you know I'm not much better than a corpse.
Speaker 9 (18:02):
You're not a corpse, You're not. I won't have you
saying I kissed a corse.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Oh that wasn't what I said. I did not.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
You said it, father, who kissed a corpse?
Speaker 9 (18:12):
Nobody? We were joking, you.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
Too, having any business here anyway?
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Kis Mine, go read, go plick olf, Go let me
find you here when I come back.
Speaker 9 (18:20):
Yes, father, good day, children. You see now he knows
you've spoiled everything.
Speaker 6 (18:26):
You don't really love me, kis Mine.
Speaker 5 (18:28):
You tell me what's the reason for all this secrecy?
What if you are rich and have this place, Why
would it be so terrible if anybody found out about it?
Speaker 9 (18:38):
Why it's on account of the diamond, of course, diamond.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
What is this diamond? All of you talk about.
Speaker 9 (18:43):
Well, it's the Oh, you'd better ask Percy. I'm always
getting things mixed up.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Well, I will ask him.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
And another thing. I'm getting out of here tonight. If
I have to dig through the mountains, I'm going back east.
Speaker 9 (18:55):
Take me with you. No, why not?
Speaker 1 (18:59):
His my dear, your father wouldn't permit it.
Speaker 9 (19:01):
If you won't take me, I'll go tell him I
want to marry you.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
So you can't do that. He bumped me off this afternoon.
Speaker 9 (19:06):
Oh please take me, darling. We'll be terribly poor and
very happy, and I'll cook things for you. Oh, herbs
and berries and things. Won't that be fun? You will,
won't you?
Speaker 7 (19:20):
John?
Speaker 5 (19:23):
Well, my head was really in a whirl. This whole
thing was fantastic, So was the family, even kids mine.
I couldn't think of anything to do, but well, I.
Speaker 7 (19:35):
Rushed to see Percy.
Speaker 6 (19:36):
But John, why didn't you ask me before? Because I
thought you were kidding all the time. I know you
wouldn't have believed me if I told you.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Well, I'm ready to believe anything.
Speaker 4 (19:45):
No.
Speaker 6 (19:46):
Well, it was grandfather who started the whole thing, purely
by accident. He came out here from Virginia after the war,
between the States and stumbled onto it. Under what the diamond?
That's what made this all possible. Of course, grandfather I
spent two years going around to different cities of the
world selling bits of it. Then he started building this place.
(20:06):
He put his money in jewels, but father found that
radium took much less space. But why the secrecy, Oh,
we just wouldn't do if anyone found out, ruined the
economy of the world.
Speaker 5 (20:17):
The thing's too big, and this has been going on
for three generations. Then the cage and this thing of
inviting friends.
Speaker 6 (20:25):
Oh yes, you see, there wasn't really any danger before
airplanes They are what worrious?
Speaker 7 (20:32):
You knew, and you invited me here? What would happen?
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Please?
Speaker 9 (20:35):
John?
Speaker 6 (20:35):
I thought you'd be more sensible about it. After all,
you can see my position.
Speaker 5 (20:40):
Oh yeah, well where is it? Where do you keep
this diamond? That's cause so cock eyed much trouble?
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (20:47):
I thought you'd guessed. You've noticed the hill the chateau
stands on. It contains a cubic mile, and except for
a thin covering of dirt, it's one big, solid diamond.
Speaker 5 (21:09):
It was nearly midnight. I don't know what woke me,
but all of a sudden, I was staring across the
patches of moonlight, spotting the ermine carpet of my bedroom,
staring at three slaves I'd never seen before. They just
slipped inside the door and stood there, each with a
vicious length of shiny copper wire, the official executioners. I
(21:34):
lay there on the bed watching them, counting heartbeats, not
daring to move, not daring not to move. They didn't
know I'd wakened, and they began edging across the room.
Speaker 4 (21:47):
Come on, for three of you. There's no time off
of this. All hell's broken loose. Hurry.
Speaker 5 (21:55):
I took one long, deep breath, the first one in
several moments, and then I was out of the in
an instant, throwing on my clothes and dashing through the
long crystal corad.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
On a kids mine's room. Kiss mine, Are you're awake?
Speaker 9 (22:07):
The window? So they woke you up too?
Speaker 1 (22:10):
If you mean three of your father's lave.
Speaker 9 (22:11):
No airplane, airthlane.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
So that's what it is, at least it doesn't.
Speaker 9 (22:15):
I saw them crossing against the moon. Oh look they're
circling way over there.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
You think they're here on purpose? Oh?
Speaker 9 (22:21):
Yes, they dropped warnings to father. It's that man who
got away from the cage room. Now, Oh, good for him, Yes,
wasn't he clever?
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Well?
Speaker 9 (22:27):
I think we'll open up on the many seconds. Now,
open up, yes, already, aircraft.
Speaker 6 (22:31):
Oh, this is going to be thrilling, thrilling.
Speaker 9 (22:34):
Oh look they're arranged now.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Bravo, bravo. Get away from that window.
Speaker 9 (22:39):
What good heavens did you see that?
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Yes, and we've got to get out of here. Can't
you understand? Up on the chateau next, I know there's.
Speaker 9 (22:45):
A little grove across on the side of the mountains.
We always keep one of the cars there. Oh, we
have a nice view of everything, a nice view.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Kiss. Mind, you don't seem to understand. They mean business.
Speaker 5 (22:54):
They're out to finish on you and your whole family.
Speaker 9 (22:56):
But it all seems so silly, or when you come
right down to it, they've never even met us. What
time is it, John? Is it morning yet?
Speaker 7 (23:15):
I don't know? I've lost my watch. Seems to be
getting lighter.
Speaker 9 (23:18):
All right, it's quieter too.
Speaker 5 (23:20):
Now they've knocked out your father's guns. Every last one
of them will belong now.
Speaker 9 (23:26):
Oh, it seems such a shame. The family puts so
much work on the place. Everything's always been so pleasant.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Well, you better get some sleep, kids.
Speaker 7 (23:36):
Mine.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
I'm gonna walk down the path a little ways.
Speaker 5 (23:38):
Oh you'll come back, yes, kis mine, I'll come back.
At the edge of the wood, I stopped and looked
out across the valley toward direct chateau, standing on its
diamond hill in the center.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
The bombing had stopped.
Speaker 5 (23:54):
The planes droned over the far rim of the plateau,
seeking some sort of formation. Then, on a little knoll
just below me, three men appeared suddenly from the underbrush.
The first one strode imperiously ahead, and the other two
bore a heavy burden between them. There was mister Washington
and two of the slaves. I stepped behind a rock
(24:14):
and stood motionless, watching them.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
All right, this is far enough.
Speaker 10 (24:20):
We'll stop here now, hoist it up, hold it there,
both together, easy.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
Now here.
Speaker 5 (24:28):
The burden they held up to the heavens was an
immense diamond, cut and polished, catching the first faint rays
of the dawn and gleaming like a fragment of the
morning star.
Speaker 10 (24:38):
Ah, you out there.
Speaker 4 (24:42):
You there.
Speaker 5 (24:44):
I could see no one else anywhere in view.
Speaker 10 (24:46):
You above there. I want you to understand this is
only a sample. I'll give you a thousand cut us
fine set in pedestal of platinum, and I'll build you
a temple a thousand feet high cast of solid gold,
(25:09):
and on the top of it, I'll put one diamond
a hundred feet across, set there forever to catch the
rays of your son.
Speaker 5 (25:21):
The thought began to dawn on me.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
I couldn't believe it.
Speaker 10 (25:24):
I'll let your name on the temple in emeralds, and
I'll see that the whole world.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Worships at its base.
Speaker 10 (25:35):
All you have to do is make everything the way
it was before.
Speaker 5 (25:43):
Mister Washington was offering a bribe to God. He stopped talking,
and the three of them stood there, looking up at
the heavens, waiting for an answer. And then, at the
far end of the van, out of those same silent
heavens blossomed the white puffs of parachutes. A man who
(26:06):
tried to bribe God looked up and saw them.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Became old in an instant.
Speaker 5 (26:12):
And, turning with lord head, walked down the path toward
the chateau. With sudden premonition, I whirled and headed for
the spot where I'd left his mine, his mine, and
the car that needed no roads.
Speaker 9 (26:33):
Haven't we gone far enough? John?
Speaker 7 (26:35):
I suppose we're ten miles from the chateau.
Speaker 9 (26:37):
It's also hectic, is rushing about and losing sleep and everything.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
Hand me those field glasses.
Speaker 9 (26:43):
Here they are, Can you see anything?
Speaker 7 (26:46):
No?
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Wait?
Speaker 4 (26:48):
Hmm?
Speaker 9 (26:48):
What is it?
Speaker 5 (26:49):
Your father and mother and Percy? Yes, and the two
slaves still carrying a big diamond. Oh wait, they're going
in a tunnel down below the chateau, so that they've
got an underground escape.
Speaker 9 (27:01):
No, I remember. Now the mountain's wired some kind of
Adam bomb, adam atomic bomb. Oh, that's it. Father's had
it for years. He always said it would disintegrate the
whole works, diamond and all. Of course, he only regarded
it as the last resort.
Speaker 5 (27:15):
So I'd rather have it like that. Now they're all
inside the tunnel. Now the troopers are moving in.
Speaker 9 (27:22):
I don't suppose there's really anything to be done about
it now, And there wasn't. I keep thinking about things
the way they were. It was all so pleasant. I
(27:45):
don't suppose it will be ever exactly like that again.
Speaker 5 (27:48):
Not ever, kids mine, and maybe it never was. Youth's
are time for dreaming and dreams died too.
Speaker 9 (27:54):
I'll probably have to take in washing, but of course
we'll be very happy. What will we do, John do?
Speaker 4 (28:01):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (28:01):
We can love a while underneath the stars. That's a
form of divine drunkenness. We can all try, and then
there may be other diamonds in the world.
Speaker 4 (28:09):
Who knows.
Speaker 5 (28:10):
And even though it's a shabby gift is always disillusion
Turn up your call, Ki his mind before you catch pneumonia.
Let's go to sleep.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
The diamot As Big as the Rets by F. Scott
Fitzgerald was adapted for radio by Les Crutchfield and produced
and directed by William N. Robeson, with Jack Edwards Junior
as John Daddy Merrill, Les Percy, and Linda Mason as
Ki Mine. The special musical score was conceived and conducted
by Cyfewer. Escape is presented by the Columbia Broadcasting System
(28:56):
and it's affiliated stations. Each week at this time next week,
we invite you to escape to the China Seas with
Joseph Conrad in his gripping story of a typhoon.
Speaker 4 (29:06):
And so good night until.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Next week at this time, when it will again be
time to escape. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting system
Escape.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Escape tonight to a fabulous world where there is a
Diamond as Big as the Ritz.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
A Columbia Broadcasting system and it's affiliated stations presents Escape,
a new series of programs, of which this the third
is The Diamond As Big as the Rents by F.
Scott Fitzgerald, produced and directed by William N.
Speaker 4 (00:32):
Robson.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
In a country as large as ours, there are many
odd and wonderful corners hidden away, but none more fabulous
and wonderful than the one conceived in the imagination of F.
Scott Fitzgerald and located in the pages of his famous
short story The Diamond As Big as the Ritz. It
is described in the words of John twenty years old,
(01:01):
impressionable and quite willing to swear to the truth of
this whole strange affair.
Speaker 5 (01:07):
I've been going to the Saint Midas Prep school for
a couple of years, and this was my second summer vacation.
I'd met this fellow, Percy Washington, during the winter and
got to be pretty good friends with him.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Only I didn't know about.
Speaker 5 (01:18):
His family, or where he came from, or anything like that.
Of course, I knew he must be rich, because Hall
of fellas a Saint Midas come from wealthy families. So
when he invited me to spend the summer at his
home out west someplace, that was okay by me. Well,
we've been on the train overnight when he first mentioned it.
I don't even remember now what led up to it.
We've been talking about first one thing and then another.
(01:44):
Exactly where is your home, Percy?
Speaker 1 (01:46):
I mean you bought the train tickets and all.
Speaker 6 (01:48):
It's in Montana, sort of Montana. Oh, yes, it's pretty
wild country, isn't it. Some of it is.
Speaker 5 (01:57):
When I you take Haites, Missouri, where I come from,
it's been settled for one hundred and fifty years, one
of the first times on the Mississippi River.
Speaker 6 (02:04):
Indeed. Oh sure, that's very interesting.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Huh.
Speaker 5 (02:08):
I sure do appreciate you not making jokes about it,
you know the way some of the fellows do when
I say I come from Hades.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Why my father's plantations?
Speaker 6 (02:16):
John, Do you know that my father is the richest
man in the world. Uh? By far the riches.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Well, I read about a man that paid taxes on
a five million dollar income.
Speaker 6 (02:27):
Small fry. If my father paid tax on his real income,
he disrupt the whole economy. Of the United States.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
No kidding. I like rich people, and the richer fellow
is the better. I like him.
Speaker 6 (02:39):
My father could buy out all the millionaires in the
country and not even know he had done it.
Speaker 5 (02:44):
Is that a fact? Why visit that the Schlitzer Murphy's
once they're plenty of rich? Why their daughter Vivian's got
rubies as big as hens, eggs and sapphires that glue
like headlamps.
Speaker 6 (02:54):
I like jewels, always have. I used to collect them
instead of stamps and diamonds. For the Schlitzer Murphy's had
diamonds as big as walnuts. Oh that's nothing, huh, nothing
at all. My father has a diamond as big as
the Ritz. Please, I'm not joking, but.
Speaker 5 (03:15):
You mean as big as the Ritz Carlton Hotel exactly.
Speaker 6 (03:19):
My father has a diamond as.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Big as the Ritz. Well, from there on it was
something like a dream.
Speaker 5 (03:31):
We got off the train about dusk at a little
whistle stop called Fish, Montana. There wasn't anything there, not
even a station, just a broken down old buggy and
four or five sheep herders lounging beside the track, and
I suppose wondering who we were anyway, Percy and I
climbed into the buggy, and without saying a word, the
driver cracked his whip and off we went.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
I don't know how far we traveled. We didn't seem
to be following any road.
Speaker 5 (04:05):
After an hour or so, it got dark, but the
driver kept right on, never saying a word.
Speaker 6 (04:14):
I hope you'll pardon this inconvenience, John, but we have
to take certain precautions, you know.
Speaker 5 (04:19):
Oh, that's all right.
Speaker 6 (04:21):
Anyway, we're almost there your home, you mean, oh, no,
to the place where we consider it safe to transfer
transfer What do you mean? There's the signal now, headlights
well up, the haws absom here we.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Are an automobile. But well there's no road.
Speaker 6 (04:38):
Oh, this car is specially built, doesn't need roads.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
Welcome home, Muster.
Speaker 6 (04:43):
Good evening, Gigson. Oh, come on, John, let's get in.
Speaker 5 (04:48):
That door opened by it so sonically controlled?
Speaker 1 (04:51):
You know.
Speaker 5 (04:52):
Gosh, what's this car made out of?
Speaker 7 (04:55):
Silver?
Speaker 6 (04:56):
No platinum? And those are emeralds in the hubcaps, in
the upholstering. It's per mink.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
You already must have.
Speaker 6 (05:05):
Anytime, Gigsum. You've probably noticed the exceptional brightness of the headlights,
the lenses are cut from diamonds. Boy, what a car
in this old junkie We use it for a station wagon.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
What are we stopping for? This is just the deserted canyon.
Speaker 6 (05:35):
Oh, we're not there yet, John, it's a little further.
Wait you'll see.
Speaker 8 (05:39):
Hell, oh, Percy, what's that the noise they're sending the
hooks down hooks, Yes, to attach to the wheels.
Speaker 6 (05:51):
You know that's what Gigxon is doing now. But oh yes,
I forgot to mention. Gigson will look after you during
the visit. Look after me, you're personal valet. Of course
there'll be other slaves available too, whenever you need them.
Speaker 7 (06:05):
Do you have a lot of slaves?
Speaker 9 (06:07):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (06:07):
Three or four hundred? I suppose already, Gigsum.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
Yes, must hello a store.
Speaker 5 (06:22):
Look we're leaving the ground.
Speaker 6 (06:24):
Yes, there's a hois step there on top of the
cliff has cables about a quarter.
Speaker 5 (06:29):
Of a mile long.
Speaker 6 (06:30):
But what four Oh it's the only way in.
Speaker 5 (06:34):
Imagine hoisting an automobile a quarter of a mile up
the side of a cliff.
Speaker 6 (06:38):
It's nothing really, As you may have guessed, John, this
is not going to be like anything you ever saw
before in your life. Well, John, there it is that's
(07:00):
your home.
Speaker 5 (07:02):
Oh it's magnificent, placial.
Speaker 6 (07:06):
It's not a bad little place.
Speaker 7 (07:08):
How big is it?
Speaker 6 (07:09):
I suppose you mean the number of rooms. I think
it's around one hundred and forty, but Father may remember exactly. Then,
of course there are other buildings, slaves, quarters and things.
Speaker 5 (07:20):
Why has anybody ever found out about it?
Speaker 1 (07:22):
This place? I mean, well, for.
Speaker 6 (07:24):
One thing, it's the only five square miles in the
United States that have never been surveyed.
Speaker 7 (07:30):
Huh why not?
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (07:33):
Things were arranged.
Speaker 5 (07:35):
I don't see how that's possible.
Speaker 6 (07:36):
Believe me, it hasn't been easy. I understand. Grandfather had
to bribe three government bureaus, a vice president, and half
of Congress ones to keep this place off of the maps.
Speaker 5 (07:46):
Oh but surely somebody stumbled on to it.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Prospectors people like that.
Speaker 6 (07:51):
Oh, yes, that happens occasionally. Then, of course we have
to arrange things. You mean, not always. Usually we just
take them prisoner and keep them same as the aviators.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Oh, planes come here.
Speaker 6 (08:03):
Well, once in a while they fly over. Of course
they never get away. We have nine anti aircraft batteries
around the hill here.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
You shoot them down.
Speaker 6 (08:14):
Oh, yes, great sport. It does upset mother a bit, though,
and there's always a chance that one might get away.
That's father's greatest worry.
Speaker 5 (08:24):
This place, this whole thing, it's fantastic.
Speaker 6 (08:28):
Oh, come now, John, I picked you for a fellow
with his feet on the ground, and you haven't seen
anything yet. You know this is only the beginning.
Speaker 7 (08:47):
And it was only the beginning.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
We crossed the acres of lawn and entered the great Chateau,
and from that moment on, vision upon vision tumble together
in a gigantic kaleidoscope of color, symmetry and exquisite harmony.
But there were corridors lined with gleaming crystals, lit by
lamps cut from emerald, And there were great halls carpeted
with chinchilla fur and ermine, and some with floors of
(09:12):
clear transparency flaming in the shifting glow of a myriad
colored fire beneath them. And there was a white haired man,
pink faced and pleasant, who was Percy's father, and a
lovely lady with dark hair piled high on her head
like a fragile queen, who was Percy's mother. Soft music
(09:36):
came from hidden places, perfumes filled the air, Exotic foods
and wines more rare than pearls. And finally, sitting in
my chair in the Great banquet Hall, I quietly fell asleep.
(09:57):
I thought there could be no more nor greater wonders.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
I was wrong.
Speaker 5 (10:01):
There were many more and greater ones, and one of
them I discovered the next morning in the garden. Hello man,
huh oh, oh, you're lovely.
Speaker 9 (10:22):
My name is Kismarin. You're John Hunger and you're a
friend of my brother.
Speaker 5 (10:27):
Are you from the East, No, well, at least not exactly.
I'm from Hades, Oh, Missouri.
Speaker 9 (10:36):
Would you like to sit down here on the grass.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Well, yeah, sure I would.
Speaker 9 (10:40):
I'm going east to school this fall. Do you suppose
I like it?
Speaker 7 (10:43):
I think so.
Speaker 5 (10:44):
Of course it'll be different from all this.
Speaker 9 (10:46):
Well that's what Jasmine says. And she's in the east.
Now I've never been outside.
Speaker 7 (10:51):
Who's Jasmine?
Speaker 9 (10:52):
My sister. She's older than I am.
Speaker 5 (10:57):
I hope you won't be offended. But you're the most
beautiful girl I've ever seen.
Speaker 9 (11:03):
Yes, I know what. Ha I surprised you didn't I
a year ago I would have said thank you. But
father says it's very necessary to learn to take things
for granted. So now I just take it for granted
that I'm beautiful.
Speaker 5 (11:15):
You see, you're pretty sophisticated, aren't you.
Speaker 9 (11:18):
Oh, I'm not at all. I think sophisticated young people
are terribly common. I'm not a bit like that.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
I didn't really mean it.
Speaker 5 (11:25):
I only said it to tease you.
Speaker 9 (11:27):
Well, I'm glad. I wouldn't want you to think anything
like that.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Why.
Speaker 9 (11:31):
I don't smoke or drink even And I never read
a thing he'd said poetry.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
I was only kiddened.
Speaker 9 (11:37):
I believe girls should enjoy their youth in a wholesome
sort of way.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
Oh so do I I like you, John.
Speaker 9 (11:44):
I wish you'd spend some of your time with me
this summer, not all with Percy.
Speaker 5 (11:48):
Oh, I will kiss mine, I will.
Speaker 9 (11:50):
You may be in love with me if you'd like to.
I'm absolutely fresh ground.
Speaker 5 (11:54):
You know I am in love with you.
Speaker 9 (11:57):
But of course we'll have to meet secretly. My parents
wouldn't if they knew, and that's what we'll do. Well,
I have to go now. I'm supposed to be with
mother at eleven. Uh aren't you going to ask me
for a kiss? Jasmine says, boys always do nowadays.
Speaker 5 (12:12):
Well, some of them do, but not me, We don't
expect nice girls to do that sort of thing. In hades,
it was.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
A funny thing.
Speaker 5 (12:29):
Percy's family were polite, friendly, always smiling, and yet all
the time I had a feeling that some terrible and
golden mystery lay hidden just around the corner. A few
days after I'd met kids mind, Percy remarked casually that
an unusual event had occurred, a man had escaped from
the cage. I didn't know what he meant then, but
(12:52):
the next morning I was walking with Percy's father on
the grounds of the estate.
Speaker 4 (12:56):
The slaves quarters are there, Miss Dangun.
Speaker 5 (12:59):
Oh, yes, they're very nice.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
Very adequate.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
During one period of my youth, I became absurdly idealistic
and allowed them to live in luxury. I even equipped
their rooms with tiled bars.
Speaker 5 (13:12):
I suppose they used the bath tubs to keep coal in,
Mister Schlitzer murphatized.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Imagine the opinions of mister Schlitzer Murphy are of little importance.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
They did not use the tubs for coal. They bathed
in them.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Unfortunately, several caught cold and died, so of course I
had the baths removed.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Shall we move on, mister Washington.
Speaker 5 (13:33):
Percy said something about a man escaping from the cage.
I didn't quite get it.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
The cage.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Eh, well, perhaps you'd like to see it might prove interesting,
just as novelty.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
It's over here.
Speaker 7 (13:46):
These trees.
Speaker 5 (13:47):
They're sixty feet tall and they have roses blooming all
over them.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Rather interesting development by a Swiss botanist.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
They're the only ones in the world.
Speaker 5 (13:56):
I'll be time, though. I suppose you'll see them all
over the country a few years.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
No, no, these are the only ones that was arranged.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Here.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
Here we are the cage.
Speaker 5 (14:10):
It's a pit dug in the ground, the grating on top.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Oh, yes, it's not really a cage, except in a
certain sense.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
Well boys, how are you getting along, sir?
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (14:29):
How many men are down there?
Speaker 4 (14:30):
About fifty years? I recalled?
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Oh are they oh?
Speaker 4 (14:34):
Aviators?
Speaker 2 (14:34):
We've shut down wandering prospectors, men of that sort.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Yes, But why are they kept there?
Speaker 2 (14:40):
They've all had the common misfortune of having discovered El Dorado. Gentlemen,
I'm sure you'd like to know that your companion, who
departed without my permission, has been taken care of.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
He was shot.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
He was shot by some of by agents in fourteen
different places golfed, mister Unger.
Speaker 5 (15:09):
They found them, then a man who got away.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Those places were towns. My agents were over eager. None
of them could offer a positive identification. I am afraid
the man may still be at large.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
So you see, it's not all utopia, Hair. We do
have our difficulties.
Speaker 5 (15:27):
Isn't it a little unnecessary holding them like that?
Speaker 4 (15:29):
We're not at all. It's the only way to keep
this place hidden.
Speaker 5 (15:33):
Yes, I guess that must be important. Percy was telling
me something on the train. I thought he was just kidding,
but he said, you had a diamond as big as
the Ritz Carlton Hotel.
Speaker 6 (15:44):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Yes, yes, indeed, as a matter of fact, it's much
bigger than the Rits, much bigger.
Speaker 5 (15:58):
Well, summer went on, and I was more and more
in love with Kismine. Oh she was priceless, exquisite, like
no other girl in the world. After a couple of weeks,
I'd kissed her, of course, and I was really in
love for the first time.
Speaker 6 (16:16):
Oh.
Speaker 5 (16:16):
I should have known. I should have put two and
two together when Percy's father showed me the cage, but
I didn't until one morning late in the summer. I'd
slipped off with Kismine into the rose garden, kis mine.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
I think we ought to elope.
Speaker 9 (16:32):
Oh, I don't know. It would be much nicer to
be married here, But then it would be more romantic
to a lope.
Speaker 5 (16:38):
Yeah, all the Sunday supplements would write stories about fabulous
heiress elopes with.
Speaker 9 (16:45):
You are fabulous.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
You know.
Speaker 9 (16:46):
I knew an heiress from Omaha once. I don't think
you'd like her. She visited my sister here.
Speaker 5 (16:52):
Oh you've had other guests Nnah.
Speaker 9 (16:54):
Well, yes, we've had a few.
Speaker 5 (16:57):
Wasn't your father ever afraid they might talk outside to
some extent?
Speaker 9 (17:02):
Oh, let's talk about something pleasanter but.
Speaker 5 (17:05):
So unpleasant about it?
Speaker 9 (17:07):
Well, I grew quite fond of some of them.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
You mean they told and your father.
Speaker 9 (17:13):
Oh, they didn't get a chance to Father had to
be sure.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
That's murder.
Speaker 9 (17:19):
What else could we do in the cage. Well, they'd
have been a constant reproach to us. And father does
it so nicely. They're always drugged in their sleep, and
then we tell their families they died of scarlet fever
and butte, I'm not sure how that affects the statistics there.
Of all the horrible it is not, after all, be
terribly boring here without ever having anybody. Why father and
(17:42):
mother have sacrificed some of their best friends.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Well, you're no better than the r.
Speaker 5 (17:48):
Well then that's what they planned to.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Do with me.
Speaker 9 (17:50):
Oh couldn't you forget it and be nice to me
until you've put away? It's only for two or three weeks.
Speaker 5 (17:57):
You'd go on this way, kissing, talking about love when
you know I'm not much better than a corpse.
Speaker 9 (18:02):
You're not a corpse, You're not. I won't have you
saying I kissed a corse.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Oh that wasn't what I said. I did not.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
You said it, father, who kissed a corpse?
Speaker 9 (18:12):
Nobody? We were joking, you.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
Too, having any business here anyway?
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Kis Mine, go read, go plick olf, Go let me
find you here when I come back.
Speaker 9 (18:20):
Yes, father, good day, children. You see now he knows
you've spoiled everything.
Speaker 6 (18:26):
You don't really love me, kis Mine.
Speaker 5 (18:28):
You tell me what's the reason for all this secrecy?
What if you are rich and have this place, Why
would it be so terrible if anybody found out about it?
Speaker 9 (18:38):
Why it's on account of the diamond, of course, diamond.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
What is this diamond? All of you talk about.
Speaker 9 (18:43):
Well, it's the Oh, you'd better ask Percy. I'm always
getting things mixed up.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Well, I will ask him.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
And another thing. I'm getting out of here tonight. If
I have to dig through the mountains, I'm going back east.
Speaker 9 (18:55):
Take me with you. No, why not?
Speaker 1 (18:59):
His my dear, your father wouldn't permit it.
Speaker 9 (19:01):
If you won't take me, I'll go tell him I
want to marry you.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
So you can't do that. He bumped me off this afternoon.
Speaker 9 (19:06):
Oh please take me, darling. We'll be terribly poor and
very happy, and I'll cook things for you. Oh, herbs
and berries and things. Won't that be fun? You will,
won't you?
Speaker 7 (19:20):
John?
Speaker 5 (19:23):
Well, my head was really in a whirl. This whole
thing was fantastic, So was the family, even kids mine.
I couldn't think of anything to do, but well, I.
Speaker 7 (19:35):
Rushed to see Percy.
Speaker 6 (19:36):
But John, why didn't you ask me before? Because I
thought you were kidding all the time. I know you
wouldn't have believed me if I told you.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Well, I'm ready to believe anything.
Speaker 4 (19:45):
No.
Speaker 6 (19:46):
Well, it was grandfather who started the whole thing, purely
by accident. He came out here from Virginia after the war,
between the States and stumbled onto it. Under what the diamond?
That's what made this all possible. Of course, grandfather I
spent two years going around to different cities of the
world selling bits of it. Then he started building this place.
(20:06):
He put his money in jewels, but father found that
radium took much less space. But why the secrecy, Oh,
we just wouldn't do if anyone found out, ruined the
economy of the world.
Speaker 5 (20:17):
The thing's too big, and this has been going on
for three generations. Then the cage and this thing of
inviting friends.
Speaker 6 (20:25):
Oh yes, you see, there wasn't really any danger before
airplanes They are what worrious?
Speaker 7 (20:32):
You knew, and you invited me here? What would happen?
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Please?
Speaker 9 (20:35):
John?
Speaker 6 (20:35):
I thought you'd be more sensible about it. After all,
you can see my position.
Speaker 5 (20:40):
Oh yeah, well where is it? Where do you keep
this diamond? That's cause so cock eyed much trouble?
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (20:47):
I thought you'd guessed. You've noticed the hill the chateau
stands on. It contains a cubic mile, and except for
a thin covering of dirt, it's one big, solid diamond.
Speaker 5 (21:09):
It was nearly midnight. I don't know what woke me,
but all of a sudden, I was staring across the
patches of moonlight, spotting the ermine carpet of my bedroom,
staring at three slaves I'd never seen before. They just
slipped inside the door and stood there, each with a
vicious length of shiny copper wire, the official executioners. I
(21:34):
lay there on the bed watching them, counting heartbeats, not
daring to move, not daring not to move. They didn't
know I'd wakened, and they began edging across the room.
Speaker 4 (21:47):
Come on, for three of you. There's no time off
of this. All hell's broken loose. Hurry.
Speaker 5 (21:55):
I took one long, deep breath, the first one in
several moments, and then I was out of the in
an instant, throwing on my clothes and dashing through the
long crystal corad.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
On a kids mine's room. Kiss mine, Are you're awake?
Speaker 9 (22:07):
The window? So they woke you up too?
Speaker 1 (22:10):
If you mean three of your father's lave.
Speaker 9 (22:11):
No airplane, airthlane.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
So that's what it is, at least it doesn't.
Speaker 9 (22:15):
I saw them crossing against the moon. Oh look they're
circling way over there.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
You think they're here on purpose? Oh?
Speaker 9 (22:21):
Yes, they dropped warnings to father. It's that man who
got away from the cage room. Now, Oh, good for him, Yes,
wasn't he clever?
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Well?
Speaker 9 (22:27):
I think we'll open up on the many seconds. Now,
open up, yes, already, aircraft.
Speaker 6 (22:31):
Oh, this is going to be thrilling, thrilling.
Speaker 9 (22:34):
Oh look they're arranged now.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Bravo, bravo. Get away from that window.
Speaker 9 (22:39):
What good heavens did you see that?
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Yes, and we've got to get out of here. Can't
you understand? Up on the chateau next, I know there's.
Speaker 9 (22:45):
A little grove across on the side of the mountains.
We always keep one of the cars there. Oh, we
have a nice view of everything, a nice view.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Kiss. Mind, you don't seem to understand. They mean business.
Speaker 5 (22:54):
They're out to finish on you and your whole family.
Speaker 9 (22:56):
But it all seems so silly, or when you come
right down to it, they've never even met us. What
time is it, John? Is it morning yet?
Speaker 7 (23:15):
I don't know? I've lost my watch. Seems to be
getting lighter.
Speaker 9 (23:18):
All right, it's quieter too.
Speaker 5 (23:20):
Now they've knocked out your father's guns. Every last one
of them will belong now.
Speaker 9 (23:26):
Oh, it seems such a shame. The family puts so
much work on the place. Everything's always been so pleasant.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Well, you better get some sleep, kids.
Speaker 7 (23:36):
Mine.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
I'm gonna walk down the path a little ways.
Speaker 5 (23:38):
Oh you'll come back, yes, kis mine, I'll come back.
At the edge of the wood, I stopped and looked
out across the valley toward direct chateau, standing on its
diamond hill in the center.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
The bombing had stopped.
Speaker 5 (23:54):
The planes droned over the far rim of the plateau,
seeking some sort of formation. Then, on a little knoll
just below me, three men appeared suddenly from the underbrush.
The first one strode imperiously ahead, and the other two
bore a heavy burden between them. There was mister Washington
and two of the slaves. I stepped behind a rock
(24:14):
and stood motionless, watching them.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
All right, this is far enough.
Speaker 10 (24:20):
We'll stop here now, hoist it up, hold it there,
both together, easy.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
Now here.
Speaker 5 (24:28):
The burden they held up to the heavens was an
immense diamond, cut and polished, catching the first faint rays
of the dawn and gleaming like a fragment of the
morning star.
Speaker 10 (24:38):
Ah, you out there.
Speaker 4 (24:42):
You there.
Speaker 5 (24:44):
I could see no one else anywhere in view.
Speaker 10 (24:46):
You above there. I want you to understand this is
only a sample. I'll give you a thousand cut us
fine set in pedestal of platinum, and I'll build you
a temple a thousand feet high cast of solid gold,
(25:09):
and on the top of it, I'll put one diamond
a hundred feet across, set there forever to catch the
rays of your son.
Speaker 5 (25:21):
The thought began to dawn on me.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
I couldn't believe it.
Speaker 10 (25:24):
I'll let your name on the temple in emeralds, and
I'll see that the whole world.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Worships at its base.
Speaker 10 (25:35):
All you have to do is make everything the way
it was before.
Speaker 5 (25:43):
Mister Washington was offering a bribe to God. He stopped talking,
and the three of them stood there, looking up at
the heavens, waiting for an answer. And then, at the
far end of the van, out of those same silent
heavens blossomed the white puffs of parachutes. A man who
(26:06):
tried to bribe God looked up and saw them.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Became old in an instant.
Speaker 5 (26:12):
And, turning with lord head, walked down the path toward
the chateau. With sudden premonition, I whirled and headed for
the spot where I'd left his mine, his mine, and
the car that needed no roads.
Speaker 9 (26:33):
Haven't we gone far enough? John?
Speaker 7 (26:35):
I suppose we're ten miles from the chateau.
Speaker 9 (26:37):
It's also hectic, is rushing about and losing sleep and everything.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
Hand me those field glasses.
Speaker 9 (26:43):
Here they are, Can you see anything?
Speaker 7 (26:46):
No?
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Wait?
Speaker 4 (26:48):
Hmm?
Speaker 9 (26:48):
What is it?
Speaker 5 (26:49):
Your father and mother and Percy? Yes, and the two
slaves still carrying a big diamond. Oh wait, they're going
in a tunnel down below the chateau, so that they've
got an underground escape.
Speaker 9 (27:01):
No, I remember. Now the mountain's wired some kind of
Adam bomb, adam atomic bomb. Oh, that's it. Father's had
it for years. He always said it would disintegrate the
whole works, diamond and all. Of course, he only regarded
it as the last resort.
Speaker 5 (27:15):
So I'd rather have it like that. Now they're all
inside the tunnel. Now the troopers are moving in.
Speaker 9 (27:22):
I don't suppose there's really anything to be done about
it now, And there wasn't. I keep thinking about things
the way they were. It was all so pleasant. I
(27:45):
don't suppose it will be ever exactly like that again.
Speaker 5 (27:48):
Not ever, kids mine, and maybe it never was. Youth's
are time for dreaming and dreams died too.
Speaker 9 (27:54):
I'll probably have to take in washing, but of course
we'll be very happy. What will we do, John do?
Speaker 4 (28:01):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (28:01):
We can love a while underneath the stars. That's a
form of divine drunkenness. We can all try, and then
there may be other diamonds in the world.
Speaker 4 (28:09):
Who knows.
Speaker 5 (28:10):
And even though it's a shabby gift is always disillusion
Turn up your call, Ki his mind before you catch pneumonia.
Let's go to sleep.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
The diamot As Big as the Rets by F. Scott
Fitzgerald was adapted for radio by Les Crutchfield and produced
and directed by William N. Robeson, with Jack Edwards Junior
as John Daddy Merrill, Les Percy, and Linda Mason as
Ki Mine. The special musical score was conceived and conducted
by Cyfewer. Escape is presented by the Columbia Broadcasting System
(28:56):
and it's affiliated stations. Each week at this time next week,
we invite you to escape to the China Seas with
Joseph Conrad in his gripping story of a typhoon.
Speaker 4 (29:06):
And so good night until.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Next week at this time, when it will again be
time to escape. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting system
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