August 9, 2024 • 21 mins
Please enjoy Grey Flannel Armor a great episode of the legendaryX Minus One radio - A Classic Old Time radio Show - OTR
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Nightline, the right lines, the right place, at
the right moment, and this is Dona Minche. Welcome you
to Nightline for Adventures in Time and Space.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Here it is. Here's x minus one.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Come down for blast off X minus five four C
two x minus one Fire from the far horizons of
(01:08):
the unknown, Contails of new dimensions in time and space.
These are stories of the future adventures in which you'll
live in a million, could be years, on a thousand,
maybe worlds. The National Broadcasting Company, in cooperation with Galaxy
Science Fiction Magazine, presents.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Tonight Gray Flannel Armor.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
But first hear this.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Everyone knows about and admires Bob Hope's frequent globe trotting
trips to entertain our servicemen in far flung corners of
the Earth. But have you ever wondered what would be
like to actually travel halfway around the world with one
of America's greatest comedians accompanied by all all star troop
of entertainers. For this past Christmas, Bob Hope and companies
set out on a twelve day tour of the Far East,
(02:07):
entertaining servicemen in Honolulu, Okinawa, Korea, and Japan, and NBC's
monitor went along with microphones open all the way.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
This weekend, you'll.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Find yourself a voyager on this exciting trip along with Bob,
Jane Mansfield, head of Hopper, and Jerry Colonna as Monitor
broadcast highlights from Operation Entertainment. And this is only part
of the top variety of information and entertainment. Monitor brings
you all weekend long beginning Friday night. So start your
weekend right with Monitor on Friday night and stay with
Monitor all weekend long for celebrities, music, news, and sports
(02:41):
over most of these same NBC radio stations. Now X
minus one and Part one of Gray Flannel Armor.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
My name is Thomas Hanley, and my case history is
of particular interest to anthropologists, sociologists, and students of the bazaar.
In its humble way, it serves as an example of
one of the more obscure mating customs of the late
twentieth century. To begin with, I own several gray flannel
suits and many slim neckties with regimental stripes. Millions of
(03:24):
us roam the streets of our great cities, footsteps firm
and hurried eyes, front voices, lowered dress to the point
of invisibility. But inside inside I fairly seethed with romantic
ideas of swinging cutlasses of beautiful damsels, their hair shimmering
in the moonlight. In short, let's face it, I was
(03:47):
a romanticist, but romance is a commodity difficult to come
by in the Great Cities. Life is too impersonal, too busy,
too standardized. This particular Friday night, I returned from my
office to my one room apartment and prepared to face
another long, dull weekend. Then the doorbell rang. Good evening,
(04:13):
mister Hanley.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
If you're collecting for something, come back after kyday.
Speaker 5 (04:16):
My friend, I am Joe Morris, a representative of the
New York Erman Service, main offices in the Empire State
Building and branches in all five boroughs, Westchester and New Jersey.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
You must have the wrong party. Oh no, mister Henley.
Speaker 5 (04:27):
We're out to serve lonely people, and that means you
don't deny it.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Now, why else would you be sitting home on a
Friday night.
Speaker 5 (04:33):
Well, a fact is you're lonely, and it's our business
and our pleasure to serve you. Serve me with what
a bright, sensitive, good looking fellow like yourself needs.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Girls, girl, nice girls.
Speaker 5 (04:46):
Now, these young ladies I was referring to, mister Hanley,
are not professionals. They are sweet, normal, romantically inclined young ladies,
but they are lonely.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
There are many lowly girls in our city, mister Hanley. Oh, yes, yes,
I suppose there are. Funny you never think of it
that way. I mean, if you're not a girl, true, true, Now,
the purpose of the New York Romance Service is to
bring young people together under suitable circumstances. Oh oh, I.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
See a kind of er your pardoner expression, a kind.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Of friendship crime. I should say not.
Speaker 5 (05:20):
We if the New York Romance have done what should
have been done years ago, we have applied scientific precision
and technological know how to a thorough study of the
fact is essential to a successful meeting between the sexes.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Factor is what factor?
Speaker 5 (05:32):
The most vital ones, my friend, are spontaneity and a sense.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Of fatness or spontaneity and fade are contradictory terroor certainly
romance bias.
Speaker 5 (05:42):
Very nature must be composed of contradictory elements. We have
graphs to prove it.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Are you saying that you sell romance the very article,
the pure and pristine substance itself.
Speaker 5 (05:53):
Mind you, I didn't say love, I didn't say common
animal passion.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
I said romance.
Speaker 5 (05:58):
The ingredient, mister Hanson, the impotant society, the spice of life,
the vision of all the ages.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
That is what we sell. Very interesting. If I'm ever
in the market, I'll get in touch with you.
Speaker 5 (06:09):
Just a minute, sir, try our system for a few days,
absolutely free of charge.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Here, put this in your lapil. Oh well, what, well?
What is this thing? It looks like a small transistor
radio with a tiny video eye.
Speaker 5 (06:23):
As it happens, it is a small transistor radio with
a tiny video eye.
Speaker 6 (06:27):
Oh what does it do?
Speaker 2 (06:30):
You'll see? Just give it a try. Remember, Romance are
sponsored by our firm.
Speaker 5 (06:35):
Are fated, spontaneous, esthetically satisfying and morally justifiable.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Well, all right, mister Morris, I'll accept the free trial offer.
Where this in my lapel, you say, into the pail,
All right, there it is. Have your Romance standing. You're
(07:11):
listening to the gray flattel armor.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
The light's attraction on X minus one.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Are you able to brush your own teeth?
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Not?
Speaker 3 (07:25):
Everyone can, not a man whose arms have been crippled
by polio. There are thousands of disabled polio survivors who
must depend on someone else to help them perform the simplest,
most personal acts. With your help, many polio victims can
learn how to be independent. Right now, there are one
hundred thousand survivors of crippling polio who need help. They
(07:48):
need your dimes and dollars to pay for expensive care
and equipment. Your contributions will provide trained hands to teach
a polio survivor how to live with his disability. Thanks
to you, a polio scarred life will once again seem
worth living. Remember, your generosity is the one hope of
thousands for whom soft vaccine came too late. Join the
(08:11):
nineteen fifty eight March of Dimes, won't you right now?
Send your dimes and dollars to your local March of
Dimes headquarters. Now X minus one brings you Act two
of Gray Flannel Armor.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
After Joe Morris left me, I took off my gray
flannel jacket and examined the small device attached to my lapel.
It had no knobs or controls. It didn't seem to
do anything at all. I shrug, put my jacket on again. Titan,
the winds are not in my tie. And went for
a walk. It was a clear, cool knight. Like most
(08:52):
knights in my life, it was a perfect time for romance.
Around me lay the city infinite in its possibilities, and
rich and its promise, but it was devoid of fulfillment.
Nothing ever happened. I passed lighted apartment buildings and thought
of the women behind the high blank windows, looking down
and seeing a lonely walker on the dark streets, wondering
(09:15):
about me. Maybe as I was wondering about that.
Speaker 7 (09:20):
Now, I used to be on the roof of a
building down on the city.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Huh huh? Who said that?
Speaker 4 (09:25):
I I wonder? Oh, I'm sure this transistor thing.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Hey uh what was that you said about a roof?
Oh I guess it isn't too wet that It was
not a bad idea, though, would be kind of pleasant
to look down on the city lights.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
No, not that one.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Well what's wrong?
Speaker 8 (09:44):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (09:45):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (09:46):
Sure, wrong building?
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Now you mean this one over here? Oh? No answer again? Well,
must be the right one this time, at least, I hope.
So I walked into the lobby, and I remember thinking,
how you had to hand it to New York romances.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
They seem to know what they were doing, and.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
I took the self service elevator to the top floor.
From there, I walked up a flight of stairs to
the roof. Hm.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Well, the are smells good up here at least.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
No, not that.
Speaker 7 (10:22):
Side, the west side.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
Okay, I will you know what you're doing?
Speaker 2 (10:27):
I certainly don't. This turns out to be some sort
of joke.
Speaker 9 (10:30):
Oh hello, Oh, I'm I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (10:36):
I didn't mean to intrude.
Speaker 7 (10:39):
You're not intruding.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
Well, I didn't see you at first.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
There in the shadows, I know.
Speaker 7 (10:44):
Good night.
Speaker 9 (10:47):
Oh those those lights, the lights of the city down there,
they're beautiful.
Speaker 8 (10:56):
Yes, either great carpet of stars, or or spear points
in the gloom, like.
Speaker 7 (11:02):
Sentinels, keeping internal visual in the.
Speaker 9 (11:05):
Night, like sentinels, keeping eternal vigil in the night. In
your arms, take her, Oh nothing, nothing, a mistake, Come
here to me.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Yes, yes. As she was melting in my arms, I
caught sight of the small transistor set pinned to her
shoulder strap, the one exactly like the one in my lapel.
(11:44):
You can't help feeling a little odd about a romantic
meeting set up and sponsored by transistor radios. I could
visualize a millian young men in gray flannel suits, roaming
the streets in response to barely heard commands from a
million tiny radios.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
I tried to forget my doubts.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
The next time I took another walk and found myself
in a slum section of the city. I decided I'd
made a mistake and started to turn around.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
Why not walk on?
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Hm?
Speaker 4 (12:10):
You want me to walk down this alley?
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Oh well?
Speaker 4 (12:17):
Oh, good night of two muggers after a girl.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
I I better look for a policeman.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
You can hand No, no, a policeman can do a
lot better. But but but there's two.
Speaker 8 (12:28):
Men arm you can do it.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Oh oh, well, here goes not to harm a helpless girl.
Speaker 7 (12:47):
You saved me, You saved my life. I had to come.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
I had to come. Yes, I know, taker in your eyes,
Yes I know. Oh. I swept her into my arms
and we embraced there in the darkened alley way. As
(13:14):
I held her close, my cheek brushed a shining jewel
in her raven black hair. I had to look twice
to recognize it, but sure enough, it was a tiny
transistor receiver, just like mine. I was suddenly angry, while
the girl was lovely. There was no denying that and
the circumstances were undeniably romantic, and I realized that it
was all a.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
Kind of cheap, play, dated and spontaneous.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
That was a joke. Angrily, I tore the transistor from
my lapel and threw it into the nearest garbage can.
I stalked away into the night, hardly realizing where I
was going. I didn't really wake up until I reached
the waterfront. I stood there, looking at the oily black
water and let the brackish scented breeze fan my face.
(13:58):
And then the next time I was aware of another
person nearby. The moon slid from behind a cloud, and
her auburn tinted hair caught its light and held it.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
For a moment. She turned her face toward me with
frank curiosity.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
At this time, there was no transistor radio to throw
me a queue.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
I didn't need one.
Speaker 8 (14:24):
It's a nice nice maybe maybe not.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
The beauty is there if you care to see it.
What a strange thing to say?
Speaker 4 (14:35):
Is it? Is it really so strange? Is it strange
that I'm here at this very moment and that you
are here too?
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Perhaps not?
Speaker 7 (14:46):
No, perhaps not?
Speaker 6 (14:48):
Let me look at you. You're really beautiful. You know
am I you know you are.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
A You're lovely? Do you really like me? Like you?
Speaker 4 (15:07):
If I could only tell you?
Speaker 8 (15:09):
Oh, I'm so glad you see I'm your free introductory
romance given you as a sample by greater romance industries.
What with home offices in Newark, New Jersey, you see
only our firm office romance, which are truly spontaneous and faded.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
Spontaneous and faded.
Speaker 8 (15:27):
Due to our technological researches, we are able to dispense
with such clumsy apparatus and transister radios and oh.
Speaker 7 (15:34):
Sir, where are you going?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
I was sick and disgusted after that. There were several
other attempts to get in touch with me, but I
ignored them. I wanted no more to do with the
romance game. In a couple of days, I called up
a twittering aunt of mine and she arranged.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
A blind date for me with the daughter of one of.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Her oldest friends. The blind eate was a nice, friendly
girl with plain, mousey brown hair. We were introduced in
my aunt's living room and we sat out on her
sun porch and talked.
Speaker 10 (16:12):
So your Tom Henley, Yeah, yeah, I uh guess I am.
Your aunt has told me a lot about you. You
work in advertising, don't you.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
Yes, Yes, that's right. Uh Madison Avenue.
Speaker 10 (16:24):
Oh, I think that's turning advertising.
Speaker 7 (16:27):
I mean it's such an an interesting field.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
Well we uh we like to think so.
Speaker 7 (16:33):
Yes, I imagine you do. All right.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Uh seems like, uh, it's warmer this evening, doesn't it.
Speaker 7 (16:40):
Yes, it is, although I don't mind the cooler weather
so much.
Speaker 10 (16:43):
Lots of people complain about it, but I don't mind.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
Well I don't either. I guess as long as you're
dressed for it.
Speaker 7 (16:52):
Yes, I suppose that's the secret.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Oh. I was just thinking, Uh, do you like bowling?
Speaker 4 (16:58):
Oh, I don't know.
Speaker 7 (16:58):
I've never bowled.
Speaker 10 (17:00):
Oh do you like tennis? I'm crazy about tennis?
Speaker 4 (17:04):
Well, tennis is all right. Yeah, I guess you could
say tennis is fine.
Speaker 7 (17:09):
I'm crazy about it.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Well all right. So it wasn't romantic at least it
wasn't at first, but there must have been something about it.
We began to hit it off, and we had more dates,
and one thing led to another and the first thing,
you know, time if we didn't get married, Yes, that's
the story of my courtship. Of course, it isn't the
whole story. At least, if you're making a case history,
(17:45):
you have to know the important things, And to my mind,
one of the most important of all happened after we
were married. We bought a nice little house out near
my aunts and settled down in it.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
Then one Saturday morning I was out cutting the law.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Hi, there, I do you? I said, Hi? Don't you
remember me? Joe Morrow?
Speaker 8 (18:07):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Oh sure?
Speaker 4 (18:09):
New York Romances?
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Well, h I'm sorry, mister Morris, but you'd better take
me off the list. I'm I'm married.
Speaker 5 (18:16):
Not only I know all about it, congratulation not I
I mean, I know all about the way it happened, introduced.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
By your aunt talking on the sun thoughts. It's call
me old fashioned stuff. And now others. Don't get me wrong,
I'm not knocking it quite the contrary. Do you know,
if we don't New York romances? Call this now? What
Hanley's mode? We studied you a lot of commercial possibilities there.
Speaker 5 (18:39):
We've got it down on grafts, effects of embarrassment on
the psyche, the roll of the ant, and the merriy courtship,
the whole works.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
What are you talking about, New York romances? What else
we've got a new service. It's called the old fashioned plan.
The what we provide bonded ants for young men to
call up.
Speaker 5 (18:58):
We even't have the ant walk into the sun pit
at unexpected intervals with a plate of cookies or something.
They say, the suspense becomes almost overpowering, like a motto
always said, spartaneity and a sense of fatedness.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
It never misses, my boy never misses, or Fred Collins again.
And I'll have another word about X minus onan in
a moment.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
Have you caught one a bad cold nose, all stuffed up,
feeling ache, miserable than hear this? More people have taken
more bromo quinine for more complete relief than with any
other tablet ever sold.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
For coals.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
You could use aspirin, cough syrups or nose drops all
day long and not get.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Bromo quinine's relief.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
Because bromo quinine does more works to relieve stocked up nose,
body aches, fever, irregularity, that blow feeling a call brings
and the headache too. Yes, more relief even for virus cols.
And the reason bromo quinine is the only cold tablet
sold with wonderworking quinine combined with five other medicines and
health fortified with vitamin C. That's why bromo Quinine cold
(20:10):
tablets give you more complete relief.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Remember, every second someone takes it for the miseries of
a cold, millions more take from quinin.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
Get the tablets that have relieved more cold discomforts than
any other. Get bromo Quinine brand cold tablets.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
You have just heard X.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Minus one, presented by the National Broadcasting Company in cooperation
with Galaxy Science fiction magazine, which this month features The
Repairman by Harry Harrison being an interstellar troubleshooter. Wouldn't be
so bad if only you could shoot the trouble Galaxy
Magazine on your new stand today. X minus one has
brought you Gray finnel Armor, a story from the pages
(20:50):
of Galaxy, written by Finn O'Donovan and adapted for radio
by William Welch. Feet in our cast were William Redfield
as Thomas Handling and Guy Repp as Joe Morris. Others
in our care asked were Abby Lewis, Pat Posley, Eddie Galen,
Freddie Chandler, and Helen Gerald. This is Fred Collin speaking.
This broadcast concludes this series of X minus one. We
(21:12):
sincerely hope you enjoyed us. X minus one was directed
by George Bootsas and is an NBC Radio Network production.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Guest.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Donomici is your host on Nightline, your line to new
worlds of entertainment after dark tonight on most of these
NBC stations.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
NBC stations
This is Nightline, the right lines, the right place, at
the right moment, and this is Dona Minche. Welcome you
to Nightline for Adventures in Time and Space.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Here it is. Here's x minus one.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Come down for blast off X minus five four C
two x minus one Fire from the far horizons of
(01:08):
the unknown, Contails of new dimensions in time and space.
These are stories of the future adventures in which you'll
live in a million, could be years, on a thousand,
maybe worlds. The National Broadcasting Company, in cooperation with Galaxy
Science Fiction Magazine, presents.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Tonight Gray Flannel Armor.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
But first hear this.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Everyone knows about and admires Bob Hope's frequent globe trotting
trips to entertain our servicemen in far flung corners of
the Earth. But have you ever wondered what would be
like to actually travel halfway around the world with one
of America's greatest comedians accompanied by all all star troop
of entertainers. For this past Christmas, Bob Hope and companies
set out on a twelve day tour of the Far East,
(02:07):
entertaining servicemen in Honolulu, Okinawa, Korea, and Japan, and NBC's
monitor went along with microphones open all the way.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
This weekend, you'll.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Find yourself a voyager on this exciting trip along with Bob,
Jane Mansfield, head of Hopper, and Jerry Colonna as Monitor
broadcast highlights from Operation Entertainment. And this is only part
of the top variety of information and entertainment. Monitor brings
you all weekend long beginning Friday night. So start your
weekend right with Monitor on Friday night and stay with
Monitor all weekend long for celebrities, music, news, and sports
(02:41):
over most of these same NBC radio stations. Now X
minus one and Part one of Gray Flannel Armor.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
My name is Thomas Hanley, and my case history is
of particular interest to anthropologists, sociologists, and students of the bazaar.
In its humble way, it serves as an example of
one of the more obscure mating customs of the late
twentieth century. To begin with, I own several gray flannel
suits and many slim neckties with regimental stripes. Millions of
(03:24):
us roam the streets of our great cities, footsteps firm
and hurried eyes, front voices, lowered dress to the point
of invisibility. But inside inside I fairly seethed with romantic
ideas of swinging cutlasses of beautiful damsels, their hair shimmering
in the moonlight. In short, let's face it, I was
(03:47):
a romanticist, but romance is a commodity difficult to come
by in the Great Cities. Life is too impersonal, too busy,
too standardized. This particular Friday night, I returned from my
office to my one room apartment and prepared to face
another long, dull weekend. Then the doorbell rang. Good evening,
(04:13):
mister Hanley.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
If you're collecting for something, come back after kyday.
Speaker 5 (04:16):
My friend, I am Joe Morris, a representative of the
New York Erman Service, main offices in the Empire State
Building and branches in all five boroughs, Westchester and New Jersey.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
You must have the wrong party. Oh no, mister Henley.
Speaker 5 (04:27):
We're out to serve lonely people, and that means you
don't deny it.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Now, why else would you be sitting home on a
Friday night.
Speaker 5 (04:33):
Well, a fact is you're lonely, and it's our business
and our pleasure to serve you. Serve me with what
a bright, sensitive, good looking fellow like yourself needs.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Girls, girl, nice girls.
Speaker 5 (04:46):
Now, these young ladies I was referring to, mister Hanley,
are not professionals. They are sweet, normal, romantically inclined young ladies,
but they are lonely.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
There are many lowly girls in our city, mister Hanley. Oh, yes, yes,
I suppose there are. Funny you never think of it
that way. I mean, if you're not a girl, true, true, Now,
the purpose of the New York Romance Service is to
bring young people together under suitable circumstances. Oh oh, I.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
See a kind of er your pardoner expression, a kind.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Of friendship crime. I should say not.
Speaker 5 (05:20):
We if the New York Romance have done what should
have been done years ago, we have applied scientific precision
and technological know how to a thorough study of the
fact is essential to a successful meeting between the sexes.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Factor is what factor?
Speaker 5 (05:32):
The most vital ones, my friend, are spontaneity and a sense.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Of fatness or spontaneity and fade are contradictory terroor certainly
romance bias.
Speaker 5 (05:42):
Very nature must be composed of contradictory elements. We have
graphs to prove it.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Are you saying that you sell romance the very article,
the pure and pristine substance itself.
Speaker 5 (05:53):
Mind you, I didn't say love, I didn't say common
animal passion.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
I said romance.
Speaker 5 (05:58):
The ingredient, mister Hanson, the impotant society, the spice of life,
the vision of all the ages.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
That is what we sell. Very interesting. If I'm ever
in the market, I'll get in touch with you.
Speaker 5 (06:09):
Just a minute, sir, try our system for a few days,
absolutely free of charge.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Here, put this in your lapil. Oh well, what, well?
What is this thing? It looks like a small transistor
radio with a tiny video eye.
Speaker 5 (06:23):
As it happens, it is a small transistor radio with
a tiny video eye.
Speaker 6 (06:27):
Oh what does it do?
Speaker 2 (06:30):
You'll see? Just give it a try. Remember, Romance are
sponsored by our firm.
Speaker 5 (06:35):
Are fated, spontaneous, esthetically satisfying and morally justifiable.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Well, all right, mister Morris, I'll accept the free trial offer.
Where this in my lapel, you say, into the pail,
All right, there it is. Have your Romance standing. You're
(07:11):
listening to the gray flattel armor.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
The light's attraction on X minus one.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Are you able to brush your own teeth?
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Not?
Speaker 3 (07:25):
Everyone can, not a man whose arms have been crippled
by polio. There are thousands of disabled polio survivors who
must depend on someone else to help them perform the simplest,
most personal acts. With your help, many polio victims can
learn how to be independent. Right now, there are one
hundred thousand survivors of crippling polio who need help. They
(07:48):
need your dimes and dollars to pay for expensive care
and equipment. Your contributions will provide trained hands to teach
a polio survivor how to live with his disability. Thanks
to you, a polio scarred life will once again seem
worth living. Remember, your generosity is the one hope of
thousands for whom soft vaccine came too late. Join the
(08:11):
nineteen fifty eight March of Dimes, won't you right now?
Send your dimes and dollars to your local March of
Dimes headquarters. Now X minus one brings you Act two
of Gray Flannel Armor.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
After Joe Morris left me, I took off my gray
flannel jacket and examined the small device attached to my lapel.
It had no knobs or controls. It didn't seem to
do anything at all. I shrug, put my jacket on again. Titan,
the winds are not in my tie. And went for
a walk. It was a clear, cool knight. Like most
(08:52):
knights in my life, it was a perfect time for romance.
Around me lay the city infinite in its possibilities, and
rich and its promise, but it was devoid of fulfillment.
Nothing ever happened. I passed lighted apartment buildings and thought
of the women behind the high blank windows, looking down
and seeing a lonely walker on the dark streets, wondering
(09:15):
about me. Maybe as I was wondering about that.
Speaker 7 (09:20):
Now, I used to be on the roof of a
building down on the city.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Huh huh? Who said that?
Speaker 4 (09:25):
I I wonder? Oh, I'm sure this transistor thing.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Hey uh what was that you said about a roof?
Oh I guess it isn't too wet that It was
not a bad idea, though, would be kind of pleasant
to look down on the city lights.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
No, not that one.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Well what's wrong?
Speaker 8 (09:44):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (09:45):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (09:46):
Sure, wrong building?
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Now you mean this one over here? Oh? No answer again? Well,
must be the right one this time, at least, I hope.
So I walked into the lobby, and I remember thinking,
how you had to hand it to New York romances.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
They seem to know what they were doing, and.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
I took the self service elevator to the top floor.
From there, I walked up a flight of stairs to
the roof. Hm.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Well, the are smells good up here at least.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
No, not that.
Speaker 7 (10:22):
Side, the west side.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
Okay, I will you know what you're doing?
Speaker 2 (10:27):
I certainly don't. This turns out to be some sort
of joke.
Speaker 9 (10:30):
Oh hello, Oh, I'm I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (10:36):
I didn't mean to intrude.
Speaker 7 (10:39):
You're not intruding.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
Well, I didn't see you at first.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
There in the shadows, I know.
Speaker 7 (10:44):
Good night.
Speaker 9 (10:47):
Oh those those lights, the lights of the city down there,
they're beautiful.
Speaker 8 (10:56):
Yes, either great carpet of stars, or or spear points
in the gloom, like.
Speaker 7 (11:02):
Sentinels, keeping internal visual in the.
Speaker 9 (11:05):
Night, like sentinels, keeping eternal vigil in the night. In
your arms, take her, Oh nothing, nothing, a mistake, Come
here to me.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Yes, yes. As she was melting in my arms, I
caught sight of the small transistor set pinned to her
shoulder strap, the one exactly like the one in my lapel.
(11:44):
You can't help feeling a little odd about a romantic
meeting set up and sponsored by transistor radios. I could
visualize a millian young men in gray flannel suits, roaming
the streets in response to barely heard commands from a
million tiny radios.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
I tried to forget my doubts.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
The next time I took another walk and found myself
in a slum section of the city. I decided I'd
made a mistake and started to turn around.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
Why not walk on?
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Hm?
Speaker 4 (12:10):
You want me to walk down this alley?
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Oh well?
Speaker 4 (12:17):
Oh, good night of two muggers after a girl.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
I I better look for a policeman.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
You can hand No, no, a policeman can do a
lot better. But but but there's two.
Speaker 8 (12:28):
Men arm you can do it.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Oh oh, well, here goes not to harm a helpless girl.
Speaker 7 (12:47):
You saved me, You saved my life. I had to come.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
I had to come. Yes, I know, taker in your eyes,
Yes I know. Oh. I swept her into my arms
and we embraced there in the darkened alley way. As
(13:14):
I held her close, my cheek brushed a shining jewel
in her raven black hair. I had to look twice
to recognize it, but sure enough, it was a tiny
transistor receiver, just like mine. I was suddenly angry, while
the girl was lovely. There was no denying that and
the circumstances were undeniably romantic, and I realized that it
was all a.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
Kind of cheap, play, dated and spontaneous.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
That was a joke. Angrily, I tore the transistor from
my lapel and threw it into the nearest garbage can.
I stalked away into the night, hardly realizing where I
was going. I didn't really wake up until I reached
the waterfront. I stood there, looking at the oily black
water and let the brackish scented breeze fan my face.
(13:58):
And then the next time I was aware of another
person nearby. The moon slid from behind a cloud, and
her auburn tinted hair caught its light and held it.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
For a moment. She turned her face toward me with
frank curiosity.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
At this time, there was no transistor radio to throw
me a queue.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
I didn't need one.
Speaker 8 (14:24):
It's a nice nice maybe maybe not.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
The beauty is there if you care to see it.
What a strange thing to say?
Speaker 4 (14:35):
Is it? Is it really so strange? Is it strange
that I'm here at this very moment and that you
are here too?
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Perhaps not?
Speaker 7 (14:46):
No, perhaps not?
Speaker 6 (14:48):
Let me look at you. You're really beautiful. You know
am I you know you are.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
A You're lovely? Do you really like me? Like you?
Speaker 4 (15:07):
If I could only tell you?
Speaker 8 (15:09):
Oh, I'm so glad you see I'm your free introductory
romance given you as a sample by greater romance industries.
What with home offices in Newark, New Jersey, you see
only our firm office romance, which are truly spontaneous and faded.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
Spontaneous and faded.
Speaker 8 (15:27):
Due to our technological researches, we are able to dispense
with such clumsy apparatus and transister radios and oh.
Speaker 7 (15:34):
Sir, where are you going?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
I was sick and disgusted after that. There were several
other attempts to get in touch with me, but I
ignored them. I wanted no more to do with the
romance game. In a couple of days, I called up
a twittering aunt of mine and she arranged.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
A blind date for me with the daughter of one of.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Her oldest friends. The blind eate was a nice, friendly
girl with plain, mousey brown hair. We were introduced in
my aunt's living room and we sat out on her
sun porch and talked.
Speaker 10 (16:12):
So your Tom Henley, Yeah, yeah, I uh guess I am.
Your aunt has told me a lot about you. You
work in advertising, don't you.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
Yes, Yes, that's right. Uh Madison Avenue.
Speaker 10 (16:24):
Oh, I think that's turning advertising.
Speaker 7 (16:27):
I mean it's such an an interesting field.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
Well we uh we like to think so.
Speaker 7 (16:33):
Yes, I imagine you do. All right.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Uh seems like, uh, it's warmer this evening, doesn't it.
Speaker 7 (16:40):
Yes, it is, although I don't mind the cooler weather
so much.
Speaker 10 (16:43):
Lots of people complain about it, but I don't mind.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
Well I don't either. I guess as long as you're
dressed for it.
Speaker 7 (16:52):
Yes, I suppose that's the secret.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Oh. I was just thinking, Uh, do you like bowling?
Speaker 4 (16:58):
Oh, I don't know.
Speaker 7 (16:58):
I've never bowled.
Speaker 10 (17:00):
Oh do you like tennis? I'm crazy about tennis?
Speaker 4 (17:04):
Well, tennis is all right. Yeah, I guess you could
say tennis is fine.
Speaker 7 (17:09):
I'm crazy about it.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Well all right. So it wasn't romantic at least it
wasn't at first, but there must have been something about it.
We began to hit it off, and we had more dates,
and one thing led to another and the first thing,
you know, time if we didn't get married, Yes, that's
the story of my courtship. Of course, it isn't the
whole story. At least, if you're making a case history,
(17:45):
you have to know the important things, And to my mind,
one of the most important of all happened after we
were married. We bought a nice little house out near
my aunts and settled down in it.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
Then one Saturday morning I was out cutting the law.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Hi, there, I do you? I said, Hi? Don't you
remember me? Joe Morrow?
Speaker 8 (18:07):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Oh sure?
Speaker 4 (18:09):
New York Romances?
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Well, h I'm sorry, mister Morris, but you'd better take
me off the list. I'm I'm married.
Speaker 5 (18:16):
Not only I know all about it, congratulation not I
I mean, I know all about the way it happened, introduced.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
By your aunt talking on the sun thoughts. It's call
me old fashioned stuff. And now others. Don't get me wrong,
I'm not knocking it quite the contrary. Do you know,
if we don't New York romances? Call this now? What
Hanley's mode? We studied you a lot of commercial possibilities there.
Speaker 5 (18:39):
We've got it down on grafts, effects of embarrassment on
the psyche, the roll of the ant, and the merriy courtship,
the whole works.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
What are you talking about, New York romances? What else
we've got a new service. It's called the old fashioned plan.
The what we provide bonded ants for young men to
call up.
Speaker 5 (18:58):
We even't have the ant walk into the sun pit
at unexpected intervals with a plate of cookies or something.
They say, the suspense becomes almost overpowering, like a motto
always said, spartaneity and a sense of fatedness.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
It never misses, my boy never misses, or Fred Collins again.
And I'll have another word about X minus onan in
a moment.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
Have you caught one a bad cold nose, all stuffed up,
feeling ache, miserable than hear this? More people have taken
more bromo quinine for more complete relief than with any
other tablet ever sold.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
For coals.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
You could use aspirin, cough syrups or nose drops all
day long and not get.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Bromo quinine's relief.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
Because bromo quinine does more works to relieve stocked up nose,
body aches, fever, irregularity, that blow feeling a call brings
and the headache too. Yes, more relief even for virus cols.
And the reason bromo quinine is the only cold tablet
sold with wonderworking quinine combined with five other medicines and
health fortified with vitamin C. That's why bromo Quinine cold
(20:10):
tablets give you more complete relief.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Remember, every second someone takes it for the miseries of
a cold, millions more take from quinin.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
Get the tablets that have relieved more cold discomforts than
any other. Get bromo Quinine brand cold tablets.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
You have just heard X.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Minus one, presented by the National Broadcasting Company in cooperation
with Galaxy Science fiction magazine, which this month features The
Repairman by Harry Harrison being an interstellar troubleshooter. Wouldn't be
so bad if only you could shoot the trouble Galaxy
Magazine on your new stand today. X minus one has
brought you Gray finnel Armor, a story from the pages
(20:50):
of Galaxy, written by Finn O'Donovan and adapted for radio
by William Welch. Feet in our cast were William Redfield
as Thomas Handling and Guy Repp as Joe Morris. Others
in our care asked were Abby Lewis, Pat Posley, Eddie Galen,
Freddie Chandler, and Helen Gerald. This is Fred Collin speaking.
This broadcast concludes this series of X minus one. We
(21:12):
sincerely hope you enjoyed us. X minus one was directed
by George Bootsas and is an NBC Radio Network production.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Guest.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Donomici is your host on Nightline, your line to new
worlds of entertainment after dark tonight on most of these
NBC stations.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
NBC stations
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