December 19, 2025 • 24 mins
Suspense was one of the most popular and successful radio series during it's run of over 900 episodes, spanning 1940-1962. Guest stars included Orson Welles, Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball, Agnes Moorehead, Marlene Dietrich and Humphrey Bogart. The plots were mostly engaging crime dramas, science fiction and some horror - usually with a surprise ending.
Hope you enjoy this episode of Suspense! Find all our OTR radio stations and podcasts at theaterofthemind-otr.com - Audio Credit: The Old Time Radio Researchers Group. - All Podcasts @ Spreaker | Apple | YouTube | Spotify | Amazon | iHeart
Hope you enjoy this episode of Suspense! Find all our OTR radio stations and podcasts at theaterofthemind-otr.com - Audio Credit: The Old Time Radio Researchers Group. - All Podcasts @ Spreaker | Apple | YouTube | Spotify | Amazon | iHeart
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
And now tonight's presentation of radio's outstanding theater of thrills suspense.
Tonight Suspense brings you a repeat performance of one of
the most controversial plays ever presented over your radio. It
is called Zero Hour by Ray Bradbury. After the initial performance,
(00:27):
a great number of letters were received. Some comments were
highly complimentary, and an almost equal number were not. However,
because so many of you did write asking to hear
this provocative work of fiction again, we present it and
hope that those of you who have not heard it
before will write us your opinion. So, now, starring Miss
easa Ashdown, here is tonight suspense play Zero Hour.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
What a game, such excitement they hadn't known in years.
Mink talked earnestly to someone near the rosebush, though no
one was there. Then the two little girls shouting, laughing
at each other, such fun, such tremulous joy. Mink ran
into the house, all dirt and sweat. For her few years,
(01:33):
she was loud and strong and definitely and her mother,
missus Morris, peeling vegetables at the sink, watched with amusement
as her daughter threw into a sackle pops and tools
and things which were relegated to child play.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Oh, my goodness, Mink, what's going on?
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (01:50):
The most exciting game ever? Just ever. Oh, it's all right,
I take these things, mam, well.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Just don't dent them. And it's all right, thanks mom.
We won't buy, all right, dear. Oh what's the name
of the game?
Speaker 4 (02:01):
Deer invasion?
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Invasion invasion And.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
In the garden now a serious concentration. Mink with an
assortment of pots, pans and races, forks, spoons, and her
friend Anna, a little younger, tongue in teeth, taking notes
on a pad.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
Yes, yes, and this what's it say next? Wait a minute, Mink,
we'll hurry up.
Speaker 5 (02:34):
Four nine seven A and b an x four nine
seven a and b an X A fork and a
string and a hex hex hexagonal.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
A fork and a string and a hexagonal. What do
we do next, mister drill?
Speaker 2 (02:57):
And then Mink talking to the rose bush again, and
to her own satisfaction, at least receiving some kind of answer,
which she related to Anna.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
Triangle. How do you spell it?
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (03:07):
Any old way doesn't matter now, right, Beam, I haven't
got triangle yet. Well, hurry zero hours by five o'clock.
We haven't got all.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Day, then time out from invasion for lunch. Link voted
down the soup and coincidentally crammed the sandwich into her mouth.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
No, you slow down me. Whatever's waiting?
Speaker 6 (03:34):
All?
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Wait, a few minutes longer, But I can't.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
Drill's waiting for me.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Drill, that's a peculiar name. Is he a new boy
in the neighborhood?
Speaker 7 (03:41):
Deer?
Speaker 4 (03:41):
He's new?
Speaker 7 (03:42):
All right?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Well, I don't think I've ever seen him. Which one
is Drill?
Speaker 7 (03:46):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (03:46):
He's just around. You'll make fun. Everybody makes fun.
Speaker 7 (03:51):
All the kids do well.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
I don't think that's very nice. Is Drill shy?
Speaker 4 (03:56):
Yes? In a way? I don't know. I gotta go now, Mama,
we're gonna have the invasion.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Now you finish your milk. Miss Who's invading?
Speaker 8 (04:04):
What?
Speaker 4 (04:05):
Martians? Invading Earth from up there?
Speaker 8 (04:08):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (04:08):
I see and Drilled a Martian?
Speaker 4 (04:12):
I think so he's had a very hard time getting here.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
I should imagine they couldn't figure out.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
A way to attack Earth, how to get in or something.
And Drill says they have to do it by surprise,
and even get help from your enemy.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Oh a fifth column, huh uh huh.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
And all this time they haven't been able to figure
out how to attack until one day they thought of children.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Wha that was bright of them.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
And they thought of how grown ups are so busy
they never look under rose bushes are on launch.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Oh that's where Drill is now under the rose bush.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
Uh huh, with all his friends too. And there's something
about kids under leven with imagination. It's it a funny
to hear Drill talk.
Speaker 9 (04:50):
Now it must be you better run along out if
you want to have your invasion before dark.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Oh and bath tonight school tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
You know, Drill says, I won't have to take make
any more bads.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Oh he does, does it?
Speaker 4 (05:03):
And we can stay up till ten o'clock.
Speaker 9 (05:05):
Well, your friend, mister Drill had better mind his p's
and q's or I'm gonna call up his mother.
Speaker 10 (05:09):
Just it.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Drill says you're dangerous because he don't believe in martians,
just like you think Drill's a kid, Well he's not.
And they're gonna let us run the world when they
get in, all of us kids, and I might even
be queen.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Well that's nice, dear, Now run along, ma, what is it?
Dear mom?
Speaker 4 (05:31):
When the invasion comes, we'll have to get rid of
you and Daddy, but I'll be sure it won't hurt
very much.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Well, thanks, thanks a lot.
Speaker 11 (05:55):
Hello, Hello Mary, How are things for New York?
Speaker 9 (05:59):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Hello? And how nice are you in town?
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Oh?
Speaker 11 (06:02):
No, I'm in Danbury.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
I was just thinking of you and thought i'd call.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Oh it's long distance, though you shouldn't. Oh, I can
afford three minutes. How's Henry fine? And Bill?
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (06:12):
Just fine? What about Mink?
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Oh wonderful, noisier than ever.
Speaker 9 (06:16):
Oh, she's got a new game. Now it's taken the
place of Hopscotch Invasion?
Speaker 4 (06:22):
Is she playing that too?
Speaker 10 (06:24):
Well?
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Yes? Are yours same thing?
Speaker 11 (06:27):
Some kind of geometric jacks?
Speaker 3 (06:28):
I suppose isn't it a screen?
Speaker 11 (06:30):
You know?
Speaker 4 (06:30):
All the kids there age you're playing it up here.
Timmy's got a crush on some guy named Drill.
Speaker 11 (06:35):
I think that's what it is.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Oh, it must be a new password. Mink likes him too.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
I didn't know it got to New York word of mouth.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
I suppose you know kids, funniest thing.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
I got a letter from my sister in Boston. She
says her kids are playing it too.
Speaker 11 (06:50):
It's just sweeping the country.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Well, I I wonder where they learned it.
Speaker 11 (06:55):
Don't ask me.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
All I know is what Timmy told me at lunch.
Speaker 9 (06:59):
Zero hour, at five o'clock when today, that's when the
invasion's going to be.
Speaker 11 (07:04):
Oh, these kids in their.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Imagination, and they talked a little more, schoolgirl friends, casual
woman talking. Missus Morris was thoughtful. She was thinking of
other things, of adults, of children with imagination, rose Bush's dimensions.
(07:28):
She thought of how much she had forgotten about being
a child. And she wondered about me and all the
kids who were at that moment playing invasion.
Speaker 9 (07:38):
I will and to Bill and the kids, Thanks, good bye, goodbye.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
An hour drowsed by, it was three o'clock. There was
an occasional hum inside the cool of the house as
a car passed outside. The street was lined with good,
green and peaceful trees, and all across the city in
other gardens, in other places, children under eleven were excitedly
playing a game, talking to rose bushes and grass, lawns,
(08:18):
trees and shrubs. Even children in apartment houses high in
the air, conferring with potted plants, cactus and ivy. Missus
Morris finished her housework and went to the kitchen.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Oh, hello, dear hi, mom, tineglass water? Of course, I'll
get it high.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
Are s cleared on ale? Six to seven degree x
T seven?
Speaker 7 (08:46):
What?
Speaker 5 (08:47):
Dear?
Speaker 4 (08:47):
Nothing?
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Mam Oh here you are?
Speaker 4 (08:50):
Thanks?
Speaker 3 (08:52):
How are things going?
Speaker 8 (08:53):
Hum?
Speaker 3 (08:54):
The invasion?
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Oh?
Speaker 8 (08:56):
That?
Speaker 7 (08:57):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (08:57):
That Hollos finished? Everything's right. Drill said we should be
ready on.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Time five o'clock.
Speaker 7 (09:04):
That's right.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
How'd you know?
Speaker 9 (09:06):
Helen called me from Danbury. She says that timmy's playing
it too.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Hey, that's keen. I guess all the kids are, aren't they?
Speaker 4 (09:15):
No, not all of them, not guys like Jimmy Wood
and Bob Wilson. They're growing up and they make fun
of us. They're worse than parents. They just won't believe
in Drill. They're so smart. Just because they're growing up,
you'd think they know better. They were little only a
couple of years ago. We'll get rid of them first.
Dress is okay to kill them first?
Speaker 3 (09:36):
Mink. I don't like that kind of talk, do you
hear me? I don't like it at all. No, I
mean it.
Speaker 9 (09:41):
You keep on that way and there'll be no more playing.
You'll have to tell Anna to go home and you'll
stay inside until bedtime.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Well, I should think so.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Thanks for the water, mom, Mink.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Yes Na, what did those those numbers mean?
Speaker 4 (09:58):
What numbers?
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Those number you were saying to yourself before?
Speaker 4 (10:02):
Oh that the other things we have to do to
get grown as friends out, that's all.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Uh.
Speaker 9 (10:08):
Look, dear, why don't you and Anna go down to
the drug store and get some ice cream.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
You don't even have to use your allowance. I'll pay
for it.
Speaker 7 (10:14):
Have god time.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Mom.
Speaker 9 (10:15):
Thanks, well, I'd never believe i'd hear you say that.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
I gotta go now, mom.
Speaker 9 (10:21):
Oh wait a minute, Uh, Minka, I want you to
tell me the truth. What is this invasion silliness?
Speaker 4 (10:32):
It isn't silly. It's just a game, that's all, ma'am.
We're just playing an invasion. Excuse me. I gotta get
back now. I'll see you later.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
It was a game called Invasion. Missus Morris's little girl, Mink,
was playing it. So is Mink's friend Anna and all
the other children under eleven. It was called Invasion, and
the zero hour was to be at five o'clock. Missus
Morris was disturbed. She wasn't sure why, but there was
something something about parents shutting ears and eyes to what
(11:13):
was happening. And because she was disturbed, she did something
she didn't usually do. She called her husband at the office.
Speaker 11 (11:22):
Hello, dear, Oh.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Hello, Henry. I'm sorry to bother you, but Miss Maxon
said you weren't busy.
Speaker 11 (11:27):
Oh not too. I should be able to get home
early today. Everything all right?
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Yes?
Speaker 11 (11:33):
You all right?
Speaker 3 (11:33):
I'm fine? Min Oh she's Henry?
Speaker 2 (11:38):
What?
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Oh? Nothing. I just wanted to talk to you for
a minute, that's all.
Speaker 11 (11:46):
And listen, are you sure you're all right?
Speaker 8 (11:48):
Oh?
Speaker 11 (11:48):
Yes, Mink been getting on your nerves.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Not really.
Speaker 11 (11:52):
You tell her to behave her when I come home.
She and I are going to have a talk. As
a matter of fact. She's been a little fresh lately,
and I don't think it's good.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
She's playing outside. She's fine, honey.
Speaker 11 (12:04):
Is something wrong?
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Why?
Speaker 11 (12:06):
No?
Speaker 3 (12:06):
I told you I was just thinking about June. Wanted
to talk. That's all.
Speaker 9 (12:11):
Nothing wrong with that, not a thing. You go back
to your work, dear. I'll see you soon. All What
time do you think you'll be home?
Speaker 11 (12:19):
Oh? About five, maybe a little earlier.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Five?
Speaker 11 (12:23):
Oh hey, what come on?
Speaker 2 (12:27):
What?
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Well?
Speaker 9 (12:28):
I I was just thinking. Nothing really, just Mink and
you and me. Goodbye, Dear, You are okay?
Speaker 11 (12:38):
Aren't you.
Speaker 6 (12:39):
Yes, I'm fine, goodbye, goodbye.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Another hour passed and it was half past four. The
day began to win. The sun lowered in the peaceful
blue sky, shadows lengthened on the green lawn outside. It
was quiet, the two little girls more intent than ever
upon their endless movement of design and pattern with the
(13:14):
implements before them. Missus Morris watched from the window, and
she had never known Mink to have such powers of concentration.
She had turned on the radio and sat drinking a
cup of coffee, and turned over her thoughts.
Speaker 6 (13:30):
Children. Children, Children love and hate side by side. Sometimes
children love you hate you all in half a second.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Strange children?
Speaker 6 (13:47):
Do they ever forget or forgive the whippings and the harsh,
strict words of command? I wonder, I wonder, how can
you forget or forgive those over and above you, those tall,
silly dictators, those parents?
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Oh what is it, dear? Well? I I don't know.
That might be in the garage. What do you want
them for?
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Well?
Speaker 3 (14:21):
If you tell me what for, dear, maybe I could.
Speaker 8 (14:26):
If something wrong halfway, if we him all the way,
he would be But can I help you.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
Better get through?
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Mink?
Speaker 9 (14:38):
I want you to take your bath before your father
comes home, all right, Now he's coming home early.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
And mink, mink, mink had disappeared behind the shrubs, and
Missus Morris knew it was ridiculous to make an issue
of it. Besides, what was the issue? Invasion drill? Zero hour? Unaccountably,
a cool breeze came up, and although normally for that
time of year would have been relief, Missus Morris felt
(15:06):
a chill. She closed the window, time passed, A curious,
waiting silence came upon the street, deepening. Then from the
living room, Missus Morris heard five o'clock, zero hour, zero hour.
(15:42):
It had come and now it had gone. But was
the clock right? And Missus Morris, knowing how foolish it was,
knowing it, went to the phone and dialed.
Speaker 10 (15:57):
Silly, it's silly.
Speaker 11 (16:12):
Can you hear the tone?
Speaker 2 (16:13):
The time will be exactly four fifty four and twenty seconds,
four fifty four and twenty seconds. And Missus Morris knew
that it wasn't as silly as she had thought, because
it wasn't five o'clock yet, not zero hour yet. Then
(16:38):
the car drove up into the driveway.
Speaker 11 (16:43):
HI mean, how's it going, Hianna, hy dandy. Got a
kiss for your old.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
Man, Daddy.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
That's a nice thing.
Speaker 8 (16:51):
What are you doing.
Speaker 11 (16:54):
Your mother in the house?
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Uh huh, I will zero a few minutes, daddy, all right.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
I'll be ready, missus. Morris heard him chuckle. Then he
stepped up the walk to the front door.
Speaker 7 (17:17):
Mary, I'm in the living room, dear.
Speaker 11 (17:20):
Hi, our daughter didn't have time for a kiss.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
How about you?
Speaker 3 (17:28):
A hard day?
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Not particularly?
Speaker 3 (17:32):
Would you like a cocktail?
Speaker 2 (17:33):
You read my mind?
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Martini perfect?
Speaker 11 (17:39):
Anything exciting happened today?
Speaker 9 (17:41):
No?
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Oh?
Speaker 9 (17:43):
Helen called from Danbury. I told her she was crazy,
but she just felt like calling like.
Speaker 11 (17:50):
You calling me this afternoon?
Speaker 5 (17:51):
Crazy.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Huh what was that all about?
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Well? I told you. I just wanted to.
Speaker 11 (17:58):
Hey, incidental?
Speaker 2 (18:00):
What's this new game?
Speaker 11 (18:01):
The kids are playing?
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Invasion? That's a nice depressing thought. Is she all right?
Come to think of it?
Speaker 11 (18:08):
She looked kind of funny.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
She's all right. What's the time, Henry?
Speaker 2 (18:14):
A couple of minutes after five?
Speaker 3 (18:15):
Why no, No, the clock's wrong by your watch.
Speaker 11 (18:20):
Oh I've got two minutes too.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
I'm probably slow. You got something on the stove.
Speaker 6 (18:25):
No, I just wondered, honey, Hey.
Speaker 11 (18:31):
Look at me.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
What's the matter?
Speaker 3 (18:35):
Nothing really?
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Really, mink's been up to something?
Speaker 3 (18:38):
No, of course not.
Speaker 7 (18:39):
I guess I'm a little tired upset, that's all.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
You want to go out for dinner?
Speaker 7 (18:45):
Oh no, I've got a steak here.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
I'll tell you what.
Speaker 11 (18:48):
I'll barbecue it.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
How that you?
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Oh?
Speaker 7 (18:50):
Fine?
Speaker 3 (18:50):
What what was that?
Speaker 2 (18:53):
What?
Speaker 7 (18:54):
Well?
Speaker 3 (18:54):
I I thought I heard something.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Well I didn't.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
I must have been imagining it.
Speaker 11 (19:01):
You are jumping.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Why don't you have a drink?
Speaker 11 (19:03):
It'll do you good?
Speaker 3 (19:04):
I don't want one. What's the time?
Speaker 8 (19:06):
Mary?
Speaker 4 (19:06):
What is this now?
Speaker 11 (19:07):
I mean it?
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Something's wrong and I want to know.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
It's silly.
Speaker 7 (19:10):
It's so silly. I'm on edge, that's.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
All Mary, I am.
Speaker 11 (19:16):
I don't like this. That kid's done something, hasn't she
I'm gonna get hurt.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
No, no, Henry, please don't sheat She hasn't. It's nothing
at all.
Speaker 10 (19:24):
Hi.
Speaker 11 (19:25):
Just what's that?
Speaker 6 (19:29):
Hi?
Speaker 7 (19:30):
I don't know.
Speaker 11 (19:31):
Those kids haven't got anything dangerous out there, have they?
I noticed a lot of junk lying around.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
I thought it was a game. She wouldn't have done
it herself. They made her do it?
Speaker 4 (19:43):
What the devil?
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Maybe you better go out and tell them to stop
playing now it's after five. You tell me to put
off the invasion until tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Tell her it is coming from outside.
Speaker 11 (19:53):
What are they up to?
Speaker 2 (19:54):
I'd better take a look.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Mak bombs are bombing. No, it's upstairs. I know it
is in the attic.
Speaker 4 (20:05):
That's where it is, Mary Harry, It is not up there, Mary,
He ran after.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Her, confused, not a little frightening. She seemed to know something.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
In the attic, that's where it is.
Speaker 11 (20:20):
Her mind.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
It worked that quickly, any excuse to get them away
from the outside, to get them upstairs to the attic
in time. I'm outside. There were more explosions, and they
could hear the children screaming with delight.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
It is not in the attic at upside mins out there.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
What's the matter with you?
Speaker 3 (20:34):
No?
Speaker 4 (20:35):
No, how shall you hurry?
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Get inside quick?
Speaker 6 (20:43):
Now?
Speaker 8 (20:44):
We're safe.
Speaker 4 (20:44):
Until were you crazy? Why did you throw that key away?
Speaker 3 (20:47):
So maybe we can sneak out later, Maybe we can
escape right heaven.
Speaker 4 (20:50):
It's like the kids up there.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
You wanted to go, You don't know, you don't We
go to stay here. We've got to. It's horrible, We
got to You've got to stay here.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
With this point, I don't know how much well I
can get out where i'd light.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
I'll be quiet, Please be quiet, here's still finest any.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Please, who's going to answer?
Speaker 11 (21:08):
There's that noise again? It's in this house?
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Very what is this?
Speaker 6 (21:14):
Very?
Speaker 3 (21:14):
What's happening?
Speaker 6 (21:16):
You know? Now?
Speaker 11 (21:16):
Answer me? Stop here?
Speaker 9 (21:18):
Stop it?
Speaker 4 (21:19):
Somebody's downstairs?
Speaker 3 (21:20):
Who's down there?
Speaker 4 (21:22):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (21:22):
No, no, no, no, no no, please.
Speaker 9 (21:26):
Please be quietly, make your way, please please.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
And between his wife's terror and the electric coming from below,
mister Morris felt a great fear. They trembled together in
silence in the attic, mister and Missus Morris, parents of
a little girl. Then they heard steps coming up the stairs,
and the voice where and the queer cold light became
(22:02):
visible under the door crack. The strange odor, and the
alien sound of eagerness in Mink's voice was almost more
than they could bear. Each wanted to scream, and another sound,
and the attic lock melted Mink. Mink, with bright little
(22:31):
eyes and tousled hair, teered inside and behind her tall
wavering blue shadows, frightful shadows.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Suspense in which Missus Easa Ashdown starred into Night's presentation
of zero Hour. Next Week, Suspense will bring You the
story of a bomb and the man who carried it
to its ultimate destination. We call it the Lunch Kit.
Be sure to listen to Lunch Kit next week on Suspense.
(23:38):
Suspense is produced and directed by Anthony Ellis. Tonight's script
was written by Ray Bradbury and adapted by mister Ellis.
The music was composed by Leigh Stevens and Lucian Morrowick
and conducted by Wilbur Hats. Featured in the cast were
Parley Bear, Paula Winslow, Eve McVeigh, John Dayner and Beverly Hanley.
Sound patterns were by Bill James and Ray Kemper. This
(24:00):
is the CBS Radio Network.
And now tonight's presentation of radio's outstanding theater of thrills suspense.
Tonight Suspense brings you a repeat performance of one of
the most controversial plays ever presented over your radio. It
is called Zero Hour by Ray Bradbury. After the initial performance,
(00:27):
a great number of letters were received. Some comments were
highly complimentary, and an almost equal number were not. However,
because so many of you did write asking to hear
this provocative work of fiction again, we present it and
hope that those of you who have not heard it
before will write us your opinion. So, now, starring Miss
easa Ashdown, here is tonight suspense play Zero Hour.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
What a game, such excitement they hadn't known in years.
Mink talked earnestly to someone near the rosebush, though no
one was there. Then the two little girls shouting, laughing
at each other, such fun, such tremulous joy. Mink ran
into the house, all dirt and sweat. For her few years,
(01:33):
she was loud and strong and definitely and her mother,
missus Morris, peeling vegetables at the sink, watched with amusement
as her daughter threw into a sackle pops and tools
and things which were relegated to child play.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Oh, my goodness, Mink, what's going on?
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (01:50):
The most exciting game ever? Just ever. Oh, it's all right,
I take these things, mam, well.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Just don't dent them. And it's all right, thanks mom.
We won't buy, all right, dear. Oh what's the name
of the game?
Speaker 4 (02:01):
Deer invasion?
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Invasion invasion And.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
In the garden now a serious concentration. Mink with an
assortment of pots, pans and races, forks, spoons, and her
friend Anna, a little younger, tongue in teeth, taking notes
on a pad.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
Yes, yes, and this what's it say next? Wait a minute, Mink,
we'll hurry up.
Speaker 5 (02:34):
Four nine seven A and b an x four nine
seven a and b an X A fork and a
string and a hex hex hexagonal.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
A fork and a string and a hexagonal. What do
we do next, mister drill?
Speaker 2 (02:57):
And then Mink talking to the rose bush again, and
to her own satisfaction, at least receiving some kind of answer,
which she related to Anna.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
Triangle. How do you spell it?
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (03:07):
Any old way doesn't matter now, right, Beam, I haven't
got triangle yet. Well, hurry zero hours by five o'clock.
We haven't got all.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Day, then time out from invasion for lunch. Link voted
down the soup and coincidentally crammed the sandwich into her mouth.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
No, you slow down me. Whatever's waiting?
Speaker 6 (03:34):
All?
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Wait, a few minutes longer, But I can't.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
Drill's waiting for me.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Drill, that's a peculiar name. Is he a new boy
in the neighborhood?
Speaker 7 (03:41):
Deer?
Speaker 4 (03:41):
He's new?
Speaker 7 (03:42):
All right?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Well, I don't think I've ever seen him. Which one
is Drill?
Speaker 7 (03:46):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (03:46):
He's just around. You'll make fun. Everybody makes fun.
Speaker 7 (03:51):
All the kids do well.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
I don't think that's very nice. Is Drill shy?
Speaker 4 (03:56):
Yes? In a way? I don't know. I gotta go now, Mama,
we're gonna have the invasion.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Now you finish your milk. Miss Who's invading?
Speaker 8 (04:04):
What?
Speaker 4 (04:05):
Martians? Invading Earth from up there?
Speaker 8 (04:08):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (04:08):
I see and Drilled a Martian?
Speaker 4 (04:12):
I think so he's had a very hard time getting here.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
I should imagine they couldn't figure out.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
A way to attack Earth, how to get in or something.
And Drill says they have to do it by surprise,
and even get help from your enemy.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Oh a fifth column, huh uh huh.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
And all this time they haven't been able to figure
out how to attack until one day they thought of children.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Wha that was bright of them.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
And they thought of how grown ups are so busy
they never look under rose bushes are on launch.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Oh that's where Drill is now under the rose bush.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
Uh huh, with all his friends too. And there's something
about kids under leven with imagination. It's it a funny
to hear Drill talk.
Speaker 9 (04:50):
Now it must be you better run along out if
you want to have your invasion before dark.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Oh and bath tonight school tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
You know, Drill says, I won't have to take make
any more bads.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Oh he does, does it?
Speaker 4 (05:03):
And we can stay up till ten o'clock.
Speaker 9 (05:05):
Well, your friend, mister Drill had better mind his p's
and q's or I'm gonna call up his mother.
Speaker 10 (05:09):
Just it.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Drill says you're dangerous because he don't believe in martians,
just like you think Drill's a kid, Well he's not.
And they're gonna let us run the world when they
get in, all of us kids, and I might even
be queen.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Well that's nice, dear, Now run along, ma, what is it?
Dear mom?
Speaker 4 (05:31):
When the invasion comes, we'll have to get rid of
you and Daddy, but I'll be sure it won't hurt
very much.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Well, thanks, thanks a lot.
Speaker 11 (05:55):
Hello, Hello Mary, How are things for New York?
Speaker 9 (05:59):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Hello? And how nice are you in town?
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Oh?
Speaker 11 (06:02):
No, I'm in Danbury.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
I was just thinking of you and thought i'd call.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Oh it's long distance, though you shouldn't. Oh, I can
afford three minutes. How's Henry fine? And Bill?
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (06:12):
Just fine? What about Mink?
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Oh wonderful, noisier than ever.
Speaker 9 (06:16):
Oh, she's got a new game. Now it's taken the
place of Hopscotch Invasion?
Speaker 4 (06:22):
Is she playing that too?
Speaker 10 (06:24):
Well?
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Yes? Are yours same thing?
Speaker 11 (06:27):
Some kind of geometric jacks?
Speaker 3 (06:28):
I suppose isn't it a screen?
Speaker 11 (06:30):
You know?
Speaker 4 (06:30):
All the kids there age you're playing it up here.
Timmy's got a crush on some guy named Drill.
Speaker 11 (06:35):
I think that's what it is.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Oh, it must be a new password. Mink likes him too.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
I didn't know it got to New York word of mouth.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
I suppose you know kids, funniest thing.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
I got a letter from my sister in Boston. She
says her kids are playing it too.
Speaker 11 (06:50):
It's just sweeping the country.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Well, I I wonder where they learned it.
Speaker 11 (06:55):
Don't ask me.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
All I know is what Timmy told me at lunch.
Speaker 9 (06:59):
Zero hour, at five o'clock when today, that's when the
invasion's going to be.
Speaker 11 (07:04):
Oh, these kids in their.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Imagination, and they talked a little more, schoolgirl friends, casual
woman talking. Missus Morris was thoughtful. She was thinking of
other things, of adults, of children with imagination, rose Bush's dimensions.
(07:28):
She thought of how much she had forgotten about being
a child. And she wondered about me and all the
kids who were at that moment playing invasion.
Speaker 9 (07:38):
I will and to Bill and the kids, Thanks, good bye, goodbye.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
An hour drowsed by, it was three o'clock. There was
an occasional hum inside the cool of the house as
a car passed outside. The street was lined with good,
green and peaceful trees, and all across the city in
other gardens, in other places, children under eleven were excitedly
playing a game, talking to rose bushes and grass, lawns,
(08:18):
trees and shrubs. Even children in apartment houses high in
the air, conferring with potted plants, cactus and ivy. Missus
Morris finished her housework and went to the kitchen.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Oh, hello, dear hi, mom, tineglass water? Of course, I'll
get it high.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
Are s cleared on ale? Six to seven degree x
T seven?
Speaker 7 (08:46):
What?
Speaker 5 (08:47):
Dear?
Speaker 4 (08:47):
Nothing?
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Mam Oh here you are?
Speaker 4 (08:50):
Thanks?
Speaker 3 (08:52):
How are things going?
Speaker 8 (08:53):
Hum?
Speaker 3 (08:54):
The invasion?
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Oh?
Speaker 8 (08:56):
That?
Speaker 7 (08:57):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (08:57):
That Hollos finished? Everything's right. Drill said we should be
ready on.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Time five o'clock.
Speaker 7 (09:04):
That's right.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
How'd you know?
Speaker 9 (09:06):
Helen called me from Danbury. She says that timmy's playing
it too.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Hey, that's keen. I guess all the kids are, aren't they?
Speaker 4 (09:15):
No, not all of them, not guys like Jimmy Wood
and Bob Wilson. They're growing up and they make fun
of us. They're worse than parents. They just won't believe
in Drill. They're so smart. Just because they're growing up,
you'd think they know better. They were little only a
couple of years ago. We'll get rid of them first.
Dress is okay to kill them first?
Speaker 3 (09:36):
Mink. I don't like that kind of talk, do you
hear me? I don't like it at all. No, I
mean it.
Speaker 9 (09:41):
You keep on that way and there'll be no more playing.
You'll have to tell Anna to go home and you'll
stay inside until bedtime.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Well, I should think so.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Thanks for the water, mom, Mink.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Yes Na, what did those those numbers mean?
Speaker 4 (09:58):
What numbers?
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Those number you were saying to yourself before?
Speaker 4 (10:02):
Oh that the other things we have to do to
get grown as friends out, that's all.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Uh.
Speaker 9 (10:08):
Look, dear, why don't you and Anna go down to
the drug store and get some ice cream.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
You don't even have to use your allowance. I'll pay
for it.
Speaker 7 (10:14):
Have god time.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Mom.
Speaker 9 (10:15):
Thanks, well, I'd never believe i'd hear you say that.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
I gotta go now, mom.
Speaker 9 (10:21):
Oh wait a minute, Uh, Minka, I want you to
tell me the truth. What is this invasion silliness?
Speaker 4 (10:32):
It isn't silly. It's just a game, that's all, ma'am.
We're just playing an invasion. Excuse me. I gotta get
back now. I'll see you later.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
It was a game called Invasion. Missus Morris's little girl, Mink,
was playing it. So is Mink's friend Anna and all
the other children under eleven. It was called Invasion, and
the zero hour was to be at five o'clock. Missus
Morris was disturbed. She wasn't sure why, but there was
something something about parents shutting ears and eyes to what
(11:13):
was happening. And because she was disturbed, she did something
she didn't usually do. She called her husband at the office.
Speaker 11 (11:22):
Hello, dear, Oh.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Hello, Henry. I'm sorry to bother you, but Miss Maxon
said you weren't busy.
Speaker 11 (11:27):
Oh not too. I should be able to get home
early today. Everything all right?
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Yes?
Speaker 11 (11:33):
You all right?
Speaker 3 (11:33):
I'm fine? Min Oh she's Henry?
Speaker 2 (11:38):
What?
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Oh? Nothing. I just wanted to talk to you for
a minute, that's all.
Speaker 11 (11:46):
And listen, are you sure you're all right?
Speaker 8 (11:48):
Oh?
Speaker 11 (11:48):
Yes, Mink been getting on your nerves.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Not really.
Speaker 11 (11:52):
You tell her to behave her when I come home.
She and I are going to have a talk. As
a matter of fact. She's been a little fresh lately,
and I don't think it's good.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
She's playing outside. She's fine, honey.
Speaker 11 (12:04):
Is something wrong?
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Why?
Speaker 11 (12:06):
No?
Speaker 3 (12:06):
I told you I was just thinking about June. Wanted
to talk. That's all.
Speaker 9 (12:11):
Nothing wrong with that, not a thing. You go back
to your work, dear. I'll see you soon. All What
time do you think you'll be home?
Speaker 11 (12:19):
Oh? About five, maybe a little earlier.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Five?
Speaker 11 (12:23):
Oh hey, what come on?
Speaker 2 (12:27):
What?
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Well?
Speaker 9 (12:28):
I I was just thinking. Nothing really, just Mink and
you and me. Goodbye, Dear, You are okay?
Speaker 11 (12:38):
Aren't you.
Speaker 6 (12:39):
Yes, I'm fine, goodbye, goodbye.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Another hour passed and it was half past four. The
day began to win. The sun lowered in the peaceful
blue sky, shadows lengthened on the green lawn outside. It
was quiet, the two little girls more intent than ever
upon their endless movement of design and pattern with the
(13:14):
implements before them. Missus Morris watched from the window, and
she had never known Mink to have such powers of concentration.
She had turned on the radio and sat drinking a
cup of coffee, and turned over her thoughts.
Speaker 6 (13:30):
Children. Children, Children love and hate side by side. Sometimes
children love you hate you all in half a second.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Strange children?
Speaker 6 (13:47):
Do they ever forget or forgive the whippings and the harsh,
strict words of command? I wonder, I wonder, how can
you forget or forgive those over and above you, those tall,
silly dictators, those parents?
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Oh what is it, dear? Well? I I don't know.
That might be in the garage. What do you want
them for?
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Well?
Speaker 3 (14:21):
If you tell me what for, dear, maybe I could.
Speaker 8 (14:26):
If something wrong halfway, if we him all the way,
he would be But can I help you.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
Better get through?
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Mink?
Speaker 9 (14:38):
I want you to take your bath before your father
comes home, all right, Now he's coming home early.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
And mink, mink, mink had disappeared behind the shrubs, and
Missus Morris knew it was ridiculous to make an issue
of it. Besides, what was the issue? Invasion drill? Zero hour? Unaccountably,
a cool breeze came up, and although normally for that
time of year would have been relief, Missus Morris felt
(15:06):
a chill. She closed the window, time passed, A curious,
waiting silence came upon the street, deepening. Then from the
living room, Missus Morris heard five o'clock, zero hour, zero hour.
(15:42):
It had come and now it had gone. But was
the clock right? And Missus Morris, knowing how foolish it was,
knowing it, went to the phone and dialed.
Speaker 10 (15:57):
Silly, it's silly.
Speaker 11 (16:12):
Can you hear the tone?
Speaker 2 (16:13):
The time will be exactly four fifty four and twenty seconds,
four fifty four and twenty seconds. And Missus Morris knew
that it wasn't as silly as she had thought, because
it wasn't five o'clock yet, not zero hour yet. Then
(16:38):
the car drove up into the driveway.
Speaker 11 (16:43):
HI mean, how's it going, Hianna, hy dandy. Got a
kiss for your old.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
Man, Daddy.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
That's a nice thing.
Speaker 8 (16:51):
What are you doing.
Speaker 11 (16:54):
Your mother in the house?
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Uh huh, I will zero a few minutes, daddy, all right.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
I'll be ready, missus. Morris heard him chuckle. Then he
stepped up the walk to the front door.
Speaker 7 (17:17):
Mary, I'm in the living room, dear.
Speaker 11 (17:20):
Hi, our daughter didn't have time for a kiss.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
How about you?
Speaker 3 (17:28):
A hard day?
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Not particularly?
Speaker 3 (17:32):
Would you like a cocktail?
Speaker 2 (17:33):
You read my mind?
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Martini perfect?
Speaker 11 (17:39):
Anything exciting happened today?
Speaker 9 (17:41):
No?
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Oh?
Speaker 9 (17:43):
Helen called from Danbury. I told her she was crazy,
but she just felt like calling like.
Speaker 11 (17:50):
You calling me this afternoon?
Speaker 5 (17:51):
Crazy.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Huh what was that all about?
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Well? I told you. I just wanted to.
Speaker 11 (17:58):
Hey, incidental?
Speaker 2 (18:00):
What's this new game?
Speaker 11 (18:01):
The kids are playing?
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Invasion? That's a nice depressing thought. Is she all right?
Come to think of it?
Speaker 11 (18:08):
She looked kind of funny.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
She's all right. What's the time, Henry?
Speaker 2 (18:14):
A couple of minutes after five?
Speaker 3 (18:15):
Why no, No, the clock's wrong by your watch.
Speaker 11 (18:20):
Oh I've got two minutes too.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
I'm probably slow. You got something on the stove.
Speaker 6 (18:25):
No, I just wondered, honey, Hey.
Speaker 11 (18:31):
Look at me.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
What's the matter?
Speaker 3 (18:35):
Nothing really?
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Really, mink's been up to something?
Speaker 3 (18:38):
No, of course not.
Speaker 7 (18:39):
I guess I'm a little tired upset, that's all.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
You want to go out for dinner?
Speaker 7 (18:45):
Oh no, I've got a steak here.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
I'll tell you what.
Speaker 11 (18:48):
I'll barbecue it.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
How that you?
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Oh?
Speaker 7 (18:50):
Fine?
Speaker 3 (18:50):
What what was that?
Speaker 2 (18:53):
What?
Speaker 7 (18:54):
Well?
Speaker 3 (18:54):
I I thought I heard something.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Well I didn't.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
I must have been imagining it.
Speaker 11 (19:01):
You are jumping.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Why don't you have a drink?
Speaker 11 (19:03):
It'll do you good?
Speaker 3 (19:04):
I don't want one. What's the time?
Speaker 8 (19:06):
Mary?
Speaker 4 (19:06):
What is this now?
Speaker 11 (19:07):
I mean it?
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Something's wrong and I want to know.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
It's silly.
Speaker 7 (19:10):
It's so silly. I'm on edge, that's.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
All Mary, I am.
Speaker 11 (19:16):
I don't like this. That kid's done something, hasn't she
I'm gonna get hurt.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
No, no, Henry, please don't sheat She hasn't. It's nothing
at all.
Speaker 10 (19:24):
Hi.
Speaker 11 (19:25):
Just what's that?
Speaker 6 (19:29):
Hi?
Speaker 7 (19:30):
I don't know.
Speaker 11 (19:31):
Those kids haven't got anything dangerous out there, have they?
I noticed a lot of junk lying around.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
I thought it was a game. She wouldn't have done
it herself. They made her do it?
Speaker 4 (19:43):
What the devil?
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Maybe you better go out and tell them to stop
playing now it's after five. You tell me to put
off the invasion until tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Tell her it is coming from outside.
Speaker 11 (19:53):
What are they up to?
Speaker 2 (19:54):
I'd better take a look.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Mak bombs are bombing. No, it's upstairs. I know it
is in the attic.
Speaker 4 (20:05):
That's where it is, Mary Harry, It is not up there, Mary,
He ran after.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Her, confused, not a little frightening. She seemed to know something.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
In the attic, that's where it is.
Speaker 11 (20:20):
Her mind.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
It worked that quickly, any excuse to get them away
from the outside, to get them upstairs to the attic
in time. I'm outside. There were more explosions, and they
could hear the children screaming with delight.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
It is not in the attic at upside mins out there.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
What's the matter with you?
Speaker 3 (20:34):
No?
Speaker 4 (20:35):
No, how shall you hurry?
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Get inside quick?
Speaker 6 (20:43):
Now?
Speaker 8 (20:44):
We're safe.
Speaker 4 (20:44):
Until were you crazy? Why did you throw that key away?
Speaker 3 (20:47):
So maybe we can sneak out later, Maybe we can
escape right heaven.
Speaker 4 (20:50):
It's like the kids up there.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
You wanted to go, You don't know, you don't We
go to stay here. We've got to. It's horrible, We
got to You've got to stay here.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
With this point, I don't know how much well I
can get out where i'd light.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
I'll be quiet, Please be quiet, here's still finest any.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Please, who's going to answer?
Speaker 11 (21:08):
There's that noise again? It's in this house?
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Very what is this?
Speaker 6 (21:14):
Very?
Speaker 3 (21:14):
What's happening?
Speaker 6 (21:16):
You know? Now?
Speaker 11 (21:16):
Answer me? Stop here?
Speaker 9 (21:18):
Stop it?
Speaker 4 (21:19):
Somebody's downstairs?
Speaker 3 (21:20):
Who's down there?
Speaker 4 (21:22):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (21:22):
No, no, no, no, no no, please.
Speaker 9 (21:26):
Please be quietly, make your way, please please.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
And between his wife's terror and the electric coming from below,
mister Morris felt a great fear. They trembled together in
silence in the attic, mister and Missus Morris, parents of
a little girl. Then they heard steps coming up the stairs,
and the voice where and the queer cold light became
(22:02):
visible under the door crack. The strange odor, and the
alien sound of eagerness in Mink's voice was almost more
than they could bear. Each wanted to scream, and another sound,
and the attic lock melted Mink. Mink, with bright little
(22:31):
eyes and tousled hair, teered inside and behind her tall
wavering blue shadows, frightful shadows.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Suspense in which Missus Easa Ashdown starred into Night's presentation
of zero Hour. Next Week, Suspense will bring You the
story of a bomb and the man who carried it
to its ultimate destination. We call it the Lunch Kit.
Be sure to listen to Lunch Kit next week on Suspense.
(23:38):
Suspense is produced and directed by Anthony Ellis. Tonight's script
was written by Ray Bradbury and adapted by mister Ellis.
The music was composed by Leigh Stevens and Lucian Morrowick
and conducted by Wilbur Hats. Featured in the cast were
Parley Bear, Paula Winslow, Eve McVeigh, John Dayner and Beverly Hanley.
Sound patterns were by Bill James and Ray Kemper. This
(24:00):
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
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The Burden
The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.