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X Minus One - "The Man in the Moon" (1955) · Old Time Sci-Fi Radio | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: A routine nationwide broadcast at the Federal Bureau of Missing
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Persons is interrupted by a distress signal apparently sent from
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: the moon. That signal carries a name Henry Timkin, the
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Bureau's records custodian, recognizes. A distinguished scientist who disappeared years before.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: From NBC, this is X-1, Episode 6, The Man in
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: the Moon, first heard May 29, 1955. An original radio
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: play by George Lefferts, directed by Fred Wye. Joe DeSantis,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Luis Van Rooten, Bob Haig, Ross Martin, Santos Ortega, and
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Sidney Smith are heard as Timken follows the Bureau's files
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: toward a connection with new disappearances of technically skilled people.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: We now take you back to the original broadcast.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: Countdown for blastoff.
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: X minus 5, minus 4... Minus three, minus two, X
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: minus one, fire! From the far horizons of the unknown
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: come tales of new dimensions in time and space. These
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: are stories of the future, adventures in which you'll live
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: in a million could-be years on a thousand would-be worlds.
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: The National Broadcasting Company presents X! X! X! Minus one.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: Tonight's story, The Man in the Moon.
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: Attention, attention. This is the Federal Bureau of Missing Persons
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: calling all local agencies. Attention, this is a coded report nationwide.
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: Missing since 9 o'clock this morning the following persons. Smigly, Jonathan,
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: 5 feet 8 inches tall, brown hair, brown eyes, mastoid
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: scar behind right ear, last seen wearing blue top coat
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: and tan cap. Wanted by Los Angeles.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: Hello.
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: Hello, get off this wavelength. This is a restricted band.
• 2:23
  Speaker 5: Hello.
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: Hello, Earth. Whoever you are, you're on a coded wavelength.
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: Tune out. This frequency is reserved for the Federal Bureau
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: of Missing Persons.
• 2:31
  Speaker 6: Hello, Earth. This is the moon calling Earth.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: Hello, Earth.
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: This guy is loony. This is Jake in transmission. Jake,
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: this is Charlie in the code room. Some crackpot is
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: on our frequency. Yeah, I heard him, Charlie.
• 2:45
  Speaker 5: I've got CQ trying to trace a source now. We
• 2:47
  Speaker 5: should have a triangulation any second.
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: Well, hurry it up, will you? Some ham is in
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: for a good stiff fine by the FCC. Yeah, they
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: ought to take his license away.
• 2:54
  Speaker 5: Oh, here comes Lenny with the directional fix.
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 2:56
  Speaker 6: Thanks, Lenny.
• 2:58
  Speaker 5: Hey.
• 2:59
  Speaker 6: Hey, what's this? This is impossible.
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: What's going on down there? How about it? Get that
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: ham out of my killer cycles.
• 3:06
  Speaker 5: Oh, listen, Charlie, unless this is a gag, that interference
• 3:09
  Speaker 5: is being beamed from 240,000 miles away.
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: Oh, now, Jake, you know there ain't no such thing
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: as 240,000 miles away. Yes, there is, Charlie, straight up. Oh, now,
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: wait a minute.
• 3:20
  Speaker 5: Charlie, that signal is coming from the moon.
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: Are you nuts?
• 3:23
  Speaker 5: Somebody might be bouncing it like a radar signal.
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: Radar on this frequency? Where'd you study basic radio?
• 3:28
  Speaker 5: Now, listen, Flathead, you asked for a fix. I gave
• 3:30
  Speaker 5: the best fix our instruments can find, take it or
• 3:32
  Speaker 5: leave it. Somebody on the moon is calling the Bureau
• 3:35
  Speaker 5: of Missing Persons.
• 3:37
  Speaker 6: Mr.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: Timkin.
• 3:40
  Speaker 7: Mr.
• 3:43
  Speaker 8: Timkin.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: Watch the sweat, Charlie. Shouldn't you be broadcasting?
• 3:47
  Speaker 9: Listen, Mr.
• 3:48
  Speaker 10: Timkin.
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: You know I'm a sober citizen, right?
• 3:51
  Speaker 6: Mm-hmm.
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: Never once have I broadcast with the smell of alcohol
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: on my breath, right?
• 3:54
  Speaker 10: Right.
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: In all your 12 years here at the Bureau, did
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: I once ever.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: What's the matter, Charlie?
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: We're picking up a message on our wavelength.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: Well, did you report to the FCC?
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: I ain't got the nerve.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: Well, what's wrong?
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: You'll scream when you hear this, Mr. Timkin. You'll jump
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: right out the window, but.
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: We are getting an SOS from the moon. SOS Well,
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: that's it. He started on voice and switched to Morse.
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: The way the signal repeats sounds like a phonograph record
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: or automatic sender of some sort.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: What's it say?
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: Let's see here. Can you read me? Help Otterburn. Will
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: contact when moon is in phase.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: Let's have that again.
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: Can you read me? Help Otterburn. Will contact when moon
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: is in phase.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: Otterburn.
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: That sounds like a name. Otterburn.
• 4:43
  Speaker 6: Otterburn.
• 4:45
  Speaker 4: Wait a minute. Something registered?
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: Cornelius Utterburn. Holy jumping Jehoshaphat.
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: Hey, where are you going?
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: Talk to the chief.
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: Hey, wait a minute. What are you going to tell him?
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: We just got a CQ from the man in the moon?
• 4:55
  Speaker 8: That's exactly what I am going to tell him, Charlie.
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: This is just too much for me.
• 5:09
  Speaker 11: Washington Star Ledger.
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: Let me have O'Brien on city desk.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: A moment.
• 5:14
  Speaker 6: O'Brien?
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: Seamus.
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: Charlie Starbuck, down at the Missing Persons Bureau. You want
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: a hot one? No kidding. This'll cost you a beer, okay?
• 5:20
  Speaker 8: All right, shoot, noodle brain. I'll stay on your wavelength
• 5:24
  Speaker 8: for 30 seconds.
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: Okay. We just got a radio message from the moon.
• 5:29
  Speaker 6: Yep. What?
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: From the moon.
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: Call me back when you're sober. Okay, Seamus. If you
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: don't know a story when you see one, I'll... I'll.
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: Send you the name of a good psychiatrist.
• 5:40
  Speaker 6: So long, Orson Welles.
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: How do you like that? You don't believe me.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: Otterburn, Mr.
• 5:55
  Speaker 6: Wade.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: Now, does that name ring a bell? You're the man
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: with the photographic memory, Henry. What about Otterburn?
• 6:00
  Speaker 12: Cornelius Otterburn, atomic physicist, reported missing from his home in
• 6:03
  Speaker 12: Baltimore on June 5th, 1945, just five years ago.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: Vanished completely.
• 6:07
  Speaker 13: Are you trying to tell me you really think there's
• 6:09
  Speaker 13: something to this man-of-the-moon business? Henry, I'm surprised at you.
• 6:12
  Speaker 13: This is some crackpot trying to jam the airwaves.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: Yes, but the name Otterburn is so unusual. So are
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: a lot of names. And I have a theory that...
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: I was afraid of that. Henry, you always have a theory.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: Let's see, what was it last year?
• 6:24
  Speaker 13: Oh, yes.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: That people disappear in occupational cycles. But it's true. Please, Henry,
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: I'm a busy man.
• 6:29
  Speaker 13: You expect me to believe that this Otterburn is sitting
• 6:31
  Speaker 13: up on the moon, sending out shortwave messages?
• 6:33
  Speaker 12: He might be on Earth bouncing the messages off the moon,
• 6:35
  Speaker 12: but who's to say he isn't on the moon?
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: Henry is chief of this bureau.
• 6:38
  Speaker 13: I have my hands full trying to coordinate reports from
• 6:40
  Speaker 13: 48 states and Alaska.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: I have no time to include the moon. But, Mr.
• 6:43
  Speaker 14: Wade.
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: Out, Henry!
• 6:44
  Speaker 13: But, Mr.
• 6:44
  Speaker 15: Wade.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: Out!
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: I'm busy!
• 6:45
  Speaker 10: Yes.
• 6:46
  Speaker 6: Oh, here.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: Take this folder of reports for the dead file.
• 6:49
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: And no more nonsense, eh, Henry?
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 6:52
  Speaker 13: I appreciate that you have a very dull job filing
• 6:55
  Speaker 13: old missing persons reports, and I appreciate that you take
• 6:57
  Speaker 13: an active interest in the affairs of the bureau.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: But no more nonsense, huh?
• 7:02
  Speaker 6: No, sir.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: No more nonsense.
• 7:10
  Speaker 11: Pardon me.
• 7:12
  Speaker 6: You are Mr.
• 7:12
  Speaker 11: Henry Timkin?
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: That's my name.
• 7:14
  Speaker 11: Permit me. Jefferson Filo, scientific feature writer.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: How do you do?
• 7:18
  Speaker 8: Are you a newspaper man?
• 7:19
  Speaker 11: Not exactly. I write as a hobby. Occasionally the papers
• 7:22
  Speaker 11: give me leads on an assignment. If I may have
• 7:24
  Speaker 11: a moment of your time. Certainly.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: Just sit down at my desk over here.
• 7:27
  Speaker 11: Thank you. My, that's quite a stack of papers. Filing.
• 7:33
  Speaker 12: I'm the records custodian of the Bureau, 12 years, and
• 7:36
  Speaker 12: never misplaced a record.
• 7:37
  Speaker 11: Magnificent. I admire the precise mind, Mr.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: Timkin. Of course.
• 7:45
  Speaker 11: Now, Mr. Timkin, Mr. O'Brien, the editor of the Star Ledger,
• 7:48
  Speaker 11: said I might drop by and investigate a rumor. Only
• 7:51
  Speaker 11: a rumor, mind you. That a message from the, uh, moon.
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: Well, we aren't certain it's from the moon. It may
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: be a bounce. They have bounced radar waves off the moon,
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: you know.
• 8:00
  Speaker 11: Yes, I know. I wrote the first newspaper article on it.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: Really? I'd be interested to read it.
• 8:04
  Speaker 11: I must have a copy in my bookcase.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: Don't bother. I.
• 8:07
  Speaker 11: Oh, but I insist.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: Oh, yes.
• 8:10
  Speaker 11: There you are. I'll leave it on your desk.
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: Oh, thank you very much.
• 8:14
  Speaker 11: Now, about this message from the moon, Mr.
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: Timken.
• 8:16
  Speaker 12: Now, we don't know for sure, as I said, but
• 8:19
  Speaker 12: I believe that this message, wherever it originates, is from
• 8:22
  Speaker 12: Cornelius Otterburn.
• 8:23
  Speaker 11: The physicist.
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: Oh, do you know him?
• 8:25
  Speaker 11: I once wrote an article on his contribution to nuclear mechanics.
• 8:28
  Speaker 11: A brilliant man, Otterburn. Years ahead of his contemporaries.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: Well, whoever is sending those signals.
• 8:33
  Speaker 12: If he isn't on the moon, is at least using
• 8:36
  Speaker 12: the moon as a sounding board, bouncing the signal.
• 8:37
  Speaker 11: But why, Mr. Timkin, why?
• 8:39
  Speaker 12: Well, if you will come here tomorrow night at eight, Mr. Philo,
• 8:42
  Speaker 12: we may learn the answer to that question. I've arranged
• 8:45
  Speaker 12: with Charlie, our radio man, to let me.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: Use the equipment.
• 8:48
  Speaker 11: May I consider this an invitation?
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: You certainly may.
• 8:50
  Speaker 11: Very well, sir. Until tomorrow night, then.
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: Goodbye, Mr.
• 8:54
  Speaker 6: Philo.
• 8:56
  Speaker 13: Hmm.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: Let's see now. Aiken, Abelard, Abramson, Rono, Atch... That's funny.
• 9:08
  Speaker 12: Now, where did this list of names come from? Paul Ahrens, astro-mathematician.
• 9:14
  Speaker 12: Robert Simons, electronic engineer. Carl Parker, mining specialist. Well, this
• 9:20
  Speaker 12: must have gotten mixed up with the papers on my
• 9:22
  Speaker 12: desk by accident. Peculiar list of names.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: Oh, good morning, Charlie.
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: Oh, hi, Mr. Timkin. See, we made the papers.
• 9:38
  Speaker 6: Oh?
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: And how. And as the chief steamed up about it,
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: he really gave me one for it.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: What did the papers say?
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: Oh, mostly ha-ha. Here's the herald.
• 9:48
  Speaker 6: Listen.
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: Man on the moon contacts missing persons bureau. Missing atomic
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: scientists sitting on the moon, say bureau experts, et cetera,
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: et cetera.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: What a fanny. Well, no wonder Mr. Wade is hopping.
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: Say, about tonight, Mr. Tinkin, I don't know.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: Now, you promised you would give me a key to
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: the radio room.
• 10:03
  Speaker 11: Yeah, but I didn't expect it.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: I'll take full responsibility with Mr.
• 10:07
  Speaker 6: Wade.
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: Time for the morning broadcast. We got quite a list today.
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: Well, mind if I listen a while? We may hear autoburn.
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: Why, it's self-conscious. Just stick around.
• 10:16
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: Attention, attention. This is the Federal Missing Persons Bureau calling
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: all local agencies nationwide. This is a coded broadcast. The
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: following persons are missing. Aaron's, Dr. Paul, 5'5, brown hair,
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: brown eyes, scar on left side of chin, thick glasses. Occupation, astro-mathematician.
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: Missing since 6 o'clock this morning. Being sought by Bel
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: Air police.
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: Charlie.
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: Repeat.
• 10:47
  Speaker 11: Dr.
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: Paul Aaron... Charlie, shut it off a second. Hold it.
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: A delay one minute. Listen, Mr.
• 10:51
  Speaker 12: Timkin, it's okay to stay, but you can't interrupt this.
• 10:54
  Speaker 12: This is important. Did you say Dr. Aaron's was reported
• 10:57
  Speaker 12: missing this morning?
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: 6 a.m. We got the report from Bel Air less
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: than an hour ago.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: Are you certain, Charlie?
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: Positive. What is this?
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: Charlie, what's the next name on the list? Uh, let's see.
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: Simons, Robert, engineer.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: What?
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: Came in less than 20 minutes ago. 20... What's the
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: matter with you? You look like you've seen a ghost.
• 11:18
  Speaker 12: It's nothing, Charlie, except that last night, quite by accident,
• 11:21
  Speaker 12: someone left a list of names on my desk. And
• 11:24
  Speaker 12: that list included the names of those two men who
• 11:27
  Speaker 12: were reported missing within the last hour.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: What?
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: Oh, that doesn't sound right to me.
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: Well, it isn't right, Charlie. It leaves a big question
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: to be answered.
• 11:37
  Speaker 12: Who would make up a list of missing persons before
• 11:39
  Speaker 12: they were missing, not after?
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: And you say this list of names was left on
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: your desk accidentally? I believe so, Mr.
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: Wade.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: Do you have any ideas, Henry?
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: It's hard to say.
• 11:55
  Speaker 13: Mr.
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: Philo left some papers from his briefcase.
• 11:57
  Speaker 6: Mr. Philo?
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: A science feature writer. I see. You were the leak
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: on that story, then. Yes, sir, I'm afraid I was.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: I didn't think it would be treated as a laughing matter.
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: We'll deal with that later.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: Yes, sir. What's this Philo like?
• 12:09
  Speaker 12: Well, he's a strange old duck. Bald, thick glasses, tall.
• 12:13
  Speaker 12: He walks stooped over. Seems to know a great deal
• 12:16
  Speaker 12: about scientific data. But, of course, being a science writer, he.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: Is there any other possibility? I believe that this is
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: all hooked up with the broadcast from Otterburn. That seems
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: to be a very remote possibility.
• 12:29
  Speaker 12: The Missing Persons Bureau deals in remote possibilities, Mr.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: Wade. I do not require a statement of policy.
• 12:36
  Speaker 5: Yes, sir.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: What's the theory?
• 12:39
  Speaker 12: For some time now, it has been my contention that
• 12:41
  Speaker 12: in a country like ours, where even the cleverest criminal
• 12:43
  Speaker 12: can be ferreted out and located eventually, there is no such.
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: Thing as a missing person.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: I was afraid of that.
• 12:49
  Speaker 12: For 12 years now, I have kept the central files,
• 12:51
  Speaker 12: where information from all over the country is channeled and recorded.
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: I have made a private study. This is beginning to
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: sound familiar, Andy.
• 12:58
  Speaker 12: And I have discovered that each year, literally thousands of
• 13:01
  Speaker 12: persons vanish, leaving no trace.
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: They are never located. Where do they go? Nobody knows.
• 13:08
  Speaker 7: And.
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: And they disappear in interesting cycles.
• 13:11
  Speaker 12: What sort of cycles? Occupations, for example. One year, we'll
• 13:14
  Speaker 12: have a run on, say, coal miners. Next year, the
• 13:17
  Speaker 12: proportion of engineers increases.
• 13:18
  Speaker 8: And then scientists.
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: What do you think happens, Henry? I don't know, Mr. Wade,
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: but I'm.
• 13:24
  Speaker 12: Beginning to suspect that somebody else has discovered the same phenomenon,
• 13:28
  Speaker 12: even to the point, perhaps, of being able to predict
• 13:30
  Speaker 12: who will turn up among the missing next.
• 13:33
  Speaker 11: Philo?
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: Well, I don't know. But I would like to find out.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: And you think Otterburn may be a part of this picture? Mr. Wade,
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: I definitely do. Henry, do you honestly expect me to
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: buy an idea like that? It is more than an idea.
• 13:45
  Speaker 12: The two top men on this list are missing and...
• 13:47
  Speaker 12: Maybe so, but the rest of them aren't. Parker, Watson, Gibbs.
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: Why, I saw Parker in the restaurant where I had
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: lunch today.
• 13:53
  Speaker 13: And if you think I'm going to make myself a
• 13:54
  Speaker 13: laughingstock by accepting such.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: A cracked brain theory... Well, I.
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: Excuse me.
• 13:58
  Speaker 10: Yes.
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: Hello, Wade speaking. Yes. Yes. I see you. What name?
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: Just a moment. Henry, let me see that list again.
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: Here you are, sir. Go ahead. Let's see. I'll get
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: back to you. I guess I owe you an apology, Henry.
• 14:22
  Speaker 6: Sir?
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: Harold Parker was just reported missing.
• 14:26
  Speaker 12: Parker?
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: Third man on your list. Holy mackerel.
• 14:30
  Speaker 11: Exactly.
• 14:32
  Speaker 6: Henry.
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: For a good many years now, I've ridiculed these theories
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: of yours. I don't know. Perhaps I have underestimated you.
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: Maybe this time you've really stumbled onto something. What do
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: you intend to do, Mr.
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: Wade?
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: I don't know. I haven't thought it out yet.
• 14:51
  Speaker 12: I was planning to listen for another broadcast tonight in
• 14:53
  Speaker 12: the hope that Otterburn might try to contact us again.
• 14:55
  Speaker 11: Good idea.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: I believe I'll join you. I also invited Mr. Philo,
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: the feature writer.
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: Oh?
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: I'll be glad to meet him. I'm beginning to get
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: interested in you, Mr. Philo. Wait, you don't think... That
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: he's mixed up in this?
• 15:07
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: I don't know, Henry. But it suddenly strikes me that
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: we don't know very much about him, really. We ought
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: to contact the police. No, Henry. I think we're better
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: off keeping this between ourselves for the moment. We're dealing
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: with the unknown.
• 15:19
  Speaker 13: And in solving an equation for the X factor, it's
• 15:22
  Speaker 13: often easier to limit the number of terms.
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: Follow me? We don't know, Mr.
• 15:26
  Speaker 13: Wade.
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: There may be more danger in what you have discovered
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: than you are aware of. Let's keep it quiet. You agree?
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: Maybe you're right, Mr. Wade. I haven't thought of the
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: danger involved.
• 15:37
  Speaker 7: Eight o'clock.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: I'm sure Mr. Filo is late. He said he'd be here.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: He strikes me as a man who keeps appointments. Look
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: out the window.
• 16:00
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: The moon is almost in direct phase. It can't wait
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: much longer.
• 16:03
  Speaker 12: Perfectly clear knife for transmission. If anybody's sending, we ought
• 16:07
  Speaker 12: to pick it up with this equipment.
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: You'd better switch on the set. Yes, sir.
• 16:10
  Speaker 12: I never realized how eerie this office could be when
• 16:13
  Speaker 12: it was empty.
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: I left a light in the hall for Mr. Fowler
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: when he comes. Are you getting anything? Just some foreign stuff,
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: I think.
• 16:20
  Speaker 14: And that concludes the British portion of tonight's programming from Johannesburg,
• 16:27
  Speaker 14: South Africa.
• 16:29
  Speaker 8: We continue in April.
• 16:35
  Speaker 12: That's a peculiar transmission sound.
• 16:37
  Speaker 14: Earth.
• 16:39
  Speaker 6: Earth.
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: That sounds like something. See if I can work the selector.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: The moon is in phase.
• 16:42
  Speaker 11: Hello, Earth.
• 16:45
  Speaker 6: Can you hear me?
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: I'll try to return.
• 16:47
  Speaker 6: Hello?
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: Hello?
• 16:48
  Speaker 6: Hello, Earth.
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: Hello, do you hear me?
• 16:51
  Speaker 6: I get you now.
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: Thank God. Who are you? Can you hear me? Who
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: are you?
• 16:55
  Speaker 6: This is Professor Cornelius Otterburn. Hello?
• 16:59
  Speaker 11: Go on, I hear you.
• 17:00
  Speaker 6: Not much time. They're on to me. They've located my
• 17:03
  Speaker 6: sending point. You hear me?
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: Go ahead. Keep talking.
• 17:06
  Speaker 8: I've only enough.
• 17:07
  Speaker 6: Oxygen for a few minutes more.
• 17:09
  Speaker 8: Well, where are you?
• 17:10
  Speaker 6: I'm on the earth side of the moon. You get that?
• 17:15
  Speaker 6: The earth side of the moon. A volcanic crater.
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: Start that recorder, Mr.
• 17:20
  Speaker 4: Wade.
• 17:21
  Speaker 8: Go on.
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: Explain, please. Explain, please.
• 17:24
  Speaker 6: Listen closely.
• 17:26
  Speaker 10: There is an earth colony on the moon. There is
• 17:30
  Speaker 10: an earth colony on the far side of the moon.
• 17:33
  Speaker 10: made up of renegade scientists and criminals.
• 17:38
  Speaker 6: Professor Ernst Halsman... Halsman?
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: He died in an insane asylum in 1938.
• 17:42
  Speaker 10: Professor Ernst Halsman discovered nuclear rocket power in 1935, turned
• 17:48
  Speaker 10: his plans over to escaped inmates of the asylum. They
• 17:52
  Speaker 10: took off and set up a colony on the far
• 17:55
  Speaker 10: side of the moon in 1938.
• 17:58
  Speaker 4: Go ahead.
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: We're recording you.
• 17:59
  Speaker 6: Each year, they recruit new colonists from Earth Slave labor, mostly.
• 18:07
  Speaker 6: I was kidnapped in 1945.
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: Yes, I know. Keep talking.
• 18:12
  Speaker 10: They wanted me to work on atomic drive for their
• 18:15
  Speaker 10: flying disc.
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: Still getting you.
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: Go on.
• 18:19
  Speaker 6: Last month, six others and I escaped.
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: Speak louder.
• 18:24
  Speaker 6: You've got to stop them. Stop them.
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: Stop who?
• 18:27
  Speaker 6: The Moon Colony. Planning to take over the Earth.
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: Invasion.
• 18:31
  Speaker 6: Hang on.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: No, no, no.
• 18:34
  Speaker 6: No oxygen. I can't breathe. Listen. They have agents on Earth.
• 18:44
  Speaker 11: Can you hear me?
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: Agents on Earth?
• 18:45
  Speaker 15: Where?
• 18:45
  Speaker 9: Who?
• 18:46
  Speaker 5: Hello?
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: Hello?
• 18:47
  Speaker 6: Hello? Agents.
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: Henry, look out. Someone at the window.
• 18:51
  Speaker 6: Get down.
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: Henry, are you all right? I think so. His shot
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: smashed the transmitter. And the lights. Strike a match.
• 19:03
  Speaker 6: Careful.
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: It was close. I got a look at him. From
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: the description, it was your Mr.
• 19:11
  Speaker 11: Philo.
• 19:12
  Speaker 12: We got a recording anyway, but not the most important
• 19:15
  Speaker 12: part of the message. Poor Otterberg, suffocating to death.
• 19:19
  Speaker 13: Henry, we've got to get you out of here. He
• 19:22
  Speaker 13: said they have agents. Philo was probably one of them.
• 19:24
  Speaker 13: He'll be looking for you now, trying to kill you.
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: The police.
• 19:27
  Speaker 13: You think the police would believe a fantastic story like this?
• 19:29
  Speaker 13: People being kidnapped to the moon as slave labor? Moon
• 19:32
  Speaker 13: colony planning an invasion.
• 19:33
  Speaker 4: Of the earth?
• 19:33
  Speaker 13: Henry, believe me, they've They'd trap us into straitjackets before
• 19:36
  Speaker 13: we could finish.
• 19:37
  Speaker 8: We've got to do something.
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: We need time.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: Time to get through.
• 19:40
  Speaker 8: You don't think my theory was bunk, then?
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: I know it wasn't, Henry. Right now, my only concern
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: is for your safety.
• 19:44
  Speaker 8: But we can't walk out of here. Philo's probably waiting.
• 19:47
  Speaker 6: Listen.
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: There's a service elevator that leads to the basement. garage.
• 19:50
  Speaker 6: Yeah?
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: We can get down there. There are some delivery trucks
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: parked there all night. We can probably get one started.
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: The garage door's off the ramp. Work from the inside.
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: We'll start the mechanism and make a run for it.
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: I don't know. I think if we call the police...
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: By the time the police get here, we'll be dead.
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: You think Philo will wait outside all night? Come on.
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: That's an order.
• 20:06
  Speaker 6: Okay. Okay.
• 20:08
  Speaker 12: What about the recording of Otterburn's notes?
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: We'll leave that here in the safe in my office.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: They'll never get into that.
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: Let's go.
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: You buzz the elevator while I hide the recording. This
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: is the basement. Come on.
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: Keep to the side.
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: Yes, sir.
• 20:32
  Speaker 6: Shh.
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: Let's try that delivery truck over there. I'll get in.
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: All right, Henry. You start the mechanism to open the
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: garage door, then jump onto the truck. Yes, sir. We'll
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: make a dash for it. Where can we go? I
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: have a farm outside Chevy Chase. It's private. Miles from
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: the nearest neighbor and completely hidden by trees. We'll run
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: for that. Go ahead. Start the door. All right. Quick.
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: Jump in.
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: Cross your fingers.
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: We made it out all right. Anything doing? There's a
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: blue coupe behind us, Mr.
• 21:30
  Speaker 6: Wade.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: It seems to be following. I'll cut up Pennsylvania Avenue.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: Now route one, toward Baltimore.
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: It is following you. He turned with us. Can you
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: go faster? How much faster?
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: He's gaining on us. I've got an idea. Hang on, Henry.
• 21:43
  Speaker 13: Yes.
• 21:43
  Speaker 8: Why did you stop?
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: I'll turn off the lights.
• 21:59
  Speaker 11: It worked.
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: He shot right past us. Now we'll double back and
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: go out another route. I don't see anything. I think
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: we've lost him.
• 22:15
  Speaker 6: Good.
• 22:17
  Speaker 13: I think everything's going to be all right now. We
• 22:19
  Speaker 13: can be at my farm in less than an hour.
• 22:32
  Speaker 13: Not much longer now. Is anyone behind us?
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: I thought I saw the blue poop again, but I
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: was mistaken.
• 22:38
  Speaker 6: Whew.
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: This place is really hot in the wilderness.
• 22:40
  Speaker 13: You can stay here indefinitely till we figure out the
• 22:42
  Speaker 13: next move. Now, just up this third road now.
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: There's the house up ahead. You're not going toward it. No,
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: I have a better idea.
• 22:52
  Speaker 13: There's a big abandoned wheat silo on my grounds.
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: It's down a hollow where it can't.
• 22:56
  Speaker 13: Be seen except in the air. And even then, the
• 22:58
  Speaker 13: oak trees shield it.
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: It'll hide you out there. Now, we leave the truck here.
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: Enough be seen. Come on, here's... How did you ever
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: find this place, Mr. Wade?
• 23:14
  Speaker 13: I've always liked seclusion. I bought it about 12 years ago.
• 23:17
  Speaker 13: I came up here in the summertime to get away
• 23:18
  Speaker 13: from it all. There's the silo.
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: It's certainly well hidden.
• 23:22
  Speaker 13: There's a small door around the side.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: Come on. Be careful of those bushes. It's hard to
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: see them in the dark. Do you suppose Philo will
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: find us? I assure you, Henry, Mr. Philo will never
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: find us here. Not in a million years. Here's the door.
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: It's pitch dark. Hold my arm. I know the way.
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: Just a few steps up and another door.
• 23:54
  Speaker 4: Steel?
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: This is an unusual silo. Double wall, wood outside and
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: steel inside. Completely fireproof. An army couldn't wreck it. We're
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: inside the inner shell.
• 24:04
  Speaker 11: Careful.
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: We're in a circular room. Stay here a moment. I'll
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: go outside and see if the coast is clear. In
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: a moment, your eyes will become accustomed to the darkness.
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: I'll bring back some food and water. Don't be long, Mr.
• 24:20
  Speaker 4: Wade.
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: This place gives me the willies. Just a moment.
• 24:30
  Speaker 6: Mr. Wade. Mr.
• 24:33
  Speaker 5: Wade.
• 24:33
  Speaker 13: Mr.
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: Wade. What's that? There is something.
• 24:39
  Speaker 8: Good Lord. There's someone in here. It's locked.
• 24:44
  Speaker 9: Oh, no.
• 24:45
  Speaker 10: Mr.
• 24:46
  Speaker 6: Wade.
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: Mr. Wade, let me out.
• 24:48
  Speaker 8: I'm not alone in here.
• 24:49
  Speaker 6: Mr.
• 24:50
  Speaker 4: Wade.
• 24:50
  Speaker 8: This must be a light switch.
• 24:53
  Speaker 6: Thank God.
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: Oh, no. People. Mr.
• 25:00
  Speaker 8: Wade, help!
• 25:01
  Speaker 4: It will do.
• 25:02
  Speaker 9: You no good to shout, Henry.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: Mr.
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: Wade, where are you?
• 25:07
  Speaker 6: Outside.
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: Speaking over the intercom.
• 25:10
  Speaker 7: Mr.
• 25:10
  Speaker 8: Wade, there are people in here. Fifteen or twenty of them. They're...
• 25:13
  Speaker 8: They're sitting like statues, just staring at me.
• 25:16
  Speaker 9: They won't hurt you, Henry. They've all been drugged. They're
• 25:20
  Speaker 9: even more helpless than you.
• 25:21
  Speaker 6: But.
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: Who are they?
• 25:25
  Speaker 9: Permit me to introduce them, Henry, since they're currently unable
• 25:28
  Speaker 9: to introduce themselves. The gentleman seated before you, the one
• 25:31
  Speaker 9: with the scar, is Dr. Paul Aarons, the astro-mathematician. Next
• 25:37
  Speaker 9: to him is Mr. Robert Simons, electronic engineer.
• 25:39
  Speaker 8: He's on the list.
• 25:41
  Speaker 6: Yes, you're familiar with the rest.
• 25:43
  Speaker 9: They've all been, shall we say, recruited to work with
• 25:48
  Speaker 9: Professor Halsman's group.
• 25:49
  Speaker 6: On the moon.
• 25:50
  Speaker 5: Moon?
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: Then you're one of them. Of course.
• 25:57
  Speaker 6: Oh, yes.
• 25:58
  Speaker 8: There's one whose name was not on our list.
• 26:01
  Speaker 9: If you'll turn around, Henry, you'll recognize the drugged form
• 26:04
  Speaker 9: of your old.
• 26:05
  Speaker 6: Friend, Mr.
• 26:05
  Speaker 5: Pilate.
• 26:06
  Speaker 6: Pilate?
• 26:08
  Speaker 8: But I thought.
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: That he was part of the conspiracy.
• 26:13
  Speaker 15: Contrary.
• 26:14
  Speaker 8: His snooping made it necessary for.
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: Us to include him.
• 26:16
  Speaker 8: Please put the man in the window, the one who
• 26:17
  Speaker 8: fired the shot.
• 26:18
  Speaker 6: An agent of mine.
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: The pilot of this ship.
• 26:21
  Speaker 6: Ship?
• 26:21
  Speaker 8: What ship?
• 26:22
  Speaker 9: This silo is camouflaged for a rocket launching platform.
• 26:26
  Speaker 8: In a moment, the roof will slide back.
• 26:28
  Speaker 6: For the rocket's takeoff.
• 26:29
  Speaker 8: A rocket ship?
• 26:30
  Speaker 9: In exactly 70 hours, you and your companions will join Professor.
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: Otterberg on the moon.
• 26:35
  Speaker 6: But you.
• 26:36
  Speaker 8: You can't do this to me!
• 26:38
  Speaker 9: We have done it, Ted.
• 26:39
  Speaker 7: No!
• 26:40
  Speaker 8: You see, there was another name omitted, Natalie.
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: I carelessly mixed up with your papers.
• 26:45
  Speaker 9: That of Henry Timpkins.
• 26:48
  Speaker 13: No!
• 26:48
  Speaker 9: Bon voyage!
• 26:50
  Speaker 8: I won't let you do this!
• 26:51
  Speaker 7: You can't!
• 26:52
  Speaker 4: Please!
• 26:53
  Speaker 6: Please let me out!
• 26:54
  Speaker 7: Let me out, please! It's an apple! Let me out!
• 26:57
  Speaker 8: Let me out!
• 27:12
  Speaker 6: Attention, attention.
• 27:15
  Speaker 14: Missing since 8 o'clock last night, the following persons. Timkin Henry,
• 27:20
  Speaker 14: age 45, height 5 feet 8, 165 pounds, brown eyes,
• 27:26
  Speaker 14: slightly balding, occupation records custodian.
• 27:30
  Speaker 4: Repeat, Timkin Henry, age 45, height 5 feet 8.
• 27:34
  Speaker 10: 165 pounds.
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: In just a moment, a word about next week's adventure. Tonight,
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: by transcription, X-1 has brought you The Man in the Moon,
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: an original radio drama written by George Lefferts. Featured in
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: the cast were Louis Van Rooten as Henry, Santos Ortega
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: as the Chief, Ross Martin as Charlie, Sidney Smith as Otterburn,
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: Bob Haig as Jake, Joe DeSantis as Philo, and Ed
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: Latimer as O'Brien. Your announcer, Fred Collins. X-Minus One was
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: directed by Fred Way and is an NBC Radio Network production.
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: And now, next week, the sign on the window said,
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: A woman and a child waited outside.
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: The little girl peering eagerly.
• 28:41
  Speaker 15: Through the window, and the woman glancing impatiently at her wristwatch,
• 28:44
  Speaker 15: as if expecting someone who was late for an appointment.
• 28:47
  Speaker 15: And there was nothing about Parigi's doll shop to warn
• 28:49
  Speaker 15: them that they were waiting to.
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: Keep an appointment with doom at X minus one.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: X minus one has concluded with The Man in the Moon.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: Thank you for spending this time with a broadcast from 1955.