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X Minus One - "The Veldt" (Old Time Radio, 1955) · X Minus One | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: On August 4th, 1955, NBC brought X-1 to its 12th episode,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Ray Bradbury's The Veldt. Adapted for radio by Ernest Kenoy
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: and directed by Daniel Sutter, the story takes us to
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: future New Chicago, where George and Lydia Abbott live in
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: a fully automated happy life home. Their children, Peter and Wendy,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: spend hours in a thought-responsive nursery whose walls repeatedly form
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: an African veldt, complete with vultures, a watering hole, and lions.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Mary Patton, Bill Quinn, David Pfeffer, Beverly Lunsford, Charles Penman,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: and John Larkin are heard in the cast. Concerned by
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: the children's attachment to the room, the Abbotts turned to
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: psychiatrist Dr. David McLean. And now, we return to the
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: original broadcast.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: Countdown for blastoff.
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: X minus 5, 4, 3, 2, X minus 1, fire.
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: From the far horizons of the unknown come transcribed tales
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: of new dimensions in time and space. These are stories
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: of the future, adventures in which you'll live in a
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: million could-be years on a thousand maybe worlds. The National
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: Broadcasting Company, in cooperation with Street & Smith, publishers of
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: astounding science fiction, presents.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: X minus 1.
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: Tonight's story, Ray Bradbury's tale, The Veldt. This is the
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: office of Dr.
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: David McLean, resident psychiatrist of the new Chicago Institute of
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: Human Engineering.
• 2:27
  Speaker 5: All right, Miss Carver, will you take this, please?
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: To Charles S.
• 2:32
  Speaker 5: Haworth, Senior Psychiatrist, New Chicago Institute of Human Engineering. The
• 2:38
  Speaker 5: following constitutes my report on the case of George and
• 2:42
  Speaker 5: Lydia Abbott, which we discussed by telephone. Subject George relates
• 2:47
  Speaker 5: onset of symptoms to the purchase of a $ 60, 000 soundproofed
• 2:52
  Speaker 5: happy life home. Under narcosynthesis during initial interviews, subject described
• 2:58
  Speaker 5: the experience in the following manner. Miss Carver, would you
• 3:02
  Speaker 5: play back the sonic record of the initial interview?
• 3:06
  Speaker 6: We'd always wanted one, and then we could afford it, so...
• 3:11
  Speaker 6: Go on, Mr.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: Abbott. Tell me about the home.
• 3:15
  Speaker 6: The home.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: Well, it was supposed to do everything, the agent told us.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: And it did, I guess.
• 3:23
  Speaker 6: It clothed us, fed us, and rocked us to sleep,
• 3:26
  Speaker 6: played and sang, and.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: It was good to us. Very good, sure. Tell me
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: about the nursery. The nursery. The nursery. Ah.
• 3:36
  Speaker 6: It was completely automatic? Completely automatic. There were crystalline walls
• 3:40
  Speaker 6: that wavered from two to three dimensions. There were pseudo-textured
• 3:44
  Speaker 6: floors that shifted from brick to dirt to waving grass.
• 3:47
  Speaker 6: The nursery was the best, but then we wanted the
• 3:51
  Speaker 6: best for the children.
• 3:55
  Speaker 5: Doctor, I must be crazy. We have no children. What
• 4:02
  Speaker 5: about Peter and Wendy? They're your children. Oh, no, no.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: We have no children, Doctor. We have no children. All right,
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: Miss Carver. Do continue.
• 4:15
  Speaker 5: After three sessions, the subject was able to recall and
• 4:18
  Speaker 5: accept the idea that he had two children. He described
• 4:23
  Speaker 5: the first day.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: All right, Peter and Wendy. This is your nursery.
• 4:29
  Speaker 7: What's so special about a nursery, Dad?
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: Plenty. Just go in and see.
• 4:33
  Speaker 8: Do we have to? You'll be surprised.
• 4:41
  Speaker 7: Gee.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: Go ahead.
• 4:43
  Speaker 7: I'm scared.
• 4:44
  Speaker 8: I'm not.
• 4:46
  Speaker 7: Hey, it's nice in here. It is? Come on in, Wendy. Boy,
• 4:53
  Speaker 7: look at the pictures on the walls. They're real.
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: Oh. They're almost real. You can change them any way
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: you like, just by thinking.
• 5:01
  Speaker 8: Go on in, dear.
• 5:03
  Speaker 7: Well, all right, Mommy. Hey, Wendy, look what I can
• 5:08
  Speaker 7: do with the pictures.
• 5:09
  Speaker 9: That's the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland.
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: Sure.
• 5:14
  Speaker 7: I just thought about it, and there it was. Let
• 5:18
  Speaker 7: me try. Peter, let me try. Well, go ahead.
• 5:22
  Speaker 8: Just think.
• 5:24
  Speaker 7: How about Wizard and Oz? I want to see Wizard
• 5:28
  Speaker 7: and Oz.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: Well, dear, there we are.
• 5:32
  Speaker 8: Oh, they like it.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: Don't they? Why shouldn't they? All I have to do
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: is think, and they've got whatever they want in three dimensions. Color, sound,
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: and smell.
• 5:42
  Speaker 8: Oh, it's nice that we can give them all the advantages.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: Sure. What else are we working for, huh? Well, what
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: do you want to do this evening?
• 5:51
  Speaker 8: Well, the Petersons asked us over for Bridge, but if you.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: Well, we don't have to worry about the kids. They'll
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: be all right in the nursery. Come on, Lydia. We
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: deserve a night out.
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: And in the nursery, the walls were a kaleidoscope of
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: time and space and imagination. The green forest of Sherwood
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: and the quiet forms of Robin and his merry men
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: gave way to the roll of the high seas and
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: the smell of salt in the air as Sir Henry
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: Morgan sailed into the harbor of Jamaica. And behind the
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: crystalline quartz walls, the vacuum tubes and grids and banks
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: of metal image tape spun quietly and efficiently, erasing the
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: line between illusion and reality. Of course, the electric bill
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: from Consolidated Utilities was tremendous, but it was worth it.
• 6:47
  Speaker 4: The happy life home breathes contentedly as life proceeded with
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: soft automaticity as.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: Guaranteed in the brochure and bill of sale.
• 6:58
  Speaker 8: George.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: Hmm?
• 7:01
  Speaker 8: George, I wish you'd look at the nursery.
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: What's wrong with it?
• 7:06
  Speaker 8: I don't know.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: I was in the nursery last week. It's perfectly all right.
• 7:10
  Speaker 8: It's different now.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: What do you mean different?
• 7:12
  Speaker 8: I want you to come and see.
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: Are the kids there? No. No.
• 7:16
  Speaker 9: Madge Allen took them to a show along with her kids.
• 7:19
  Speaker 9: That's why I want you to look at it now
• 7:21
  Speaker 9: before they get back.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: Oh, all right. What you expect me to do, I
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: don't know. I'm no mechanic.
• 7:26
  Speaker 8: This isn't a question of a leaky faucet, George.
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: All right, dear. I'm coming. The nursery light flicked on
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: as they came down the hall.
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: The relays clicked and the tubes warmed and chemical odor
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: banks and pipes bubbled into life as they paused before
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: the closed door.
• 7:48
  Speaker 8: Go ahead, George. Open it.
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: On all sides, in three dimensions, stretched the hot, tired
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: landscapes of an African veldt reproduced to the last stick
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: and pebble and bit of straw. The ceiling above them
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: became a sky with a hot yellow sun. A wind
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: blew in from the baked veldtland. The hot straw smell
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: of lion grass. The cool green smell of the hidden waterhole.
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: The great rusty smell of animals. The howl of the
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: jackal in the distance. And the papery rustling of the
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: great vultures that wheeled and circled under the yellow burning sun.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: Let's get out of this, son. It's a little too real.
• 8:33
  Speaker 8: Oh, George, you promised you'd look around.
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: Well, I don't see anything.
• 8:37
  Speaker 8: Wait a minute. There are the vultures.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: Filthy creatures. There.
• 8:45
  Speaker 8: There are the lions. Far over that way.
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: Yes, I see them.
• 8:51
  Speaker 8: They're on their way to the waterhole. They've just eaten.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: Some animal. Oh. A zebra or a baby giraffe, maybe.
• 9:00
  Speaker 8: Can you see it? Are you sure?
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: It's a little late to be sure. Nothing over there
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: but clean bone and the vultures swooping down for what's left.
• 9:08
  Speaker 8: Did you hear that scream?
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: What scream?
• 9:11
  Speaker 8: About a moment ago.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: Sorry, no.
• 9:16
  Speaker 8: Oh, here come the lions.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: George, they're frightening. Take it easy, Lydia. They're just illusions.
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: The lions were 15 feet away.
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: So real, so startlingly real, you could feel the prickling
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: fur on your hand and your mouth was stuffed with
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: the dusty upholstery smell of their heated pelts. And the
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: yellow of them was in your eyes like the yellow
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: of an exquisite tapestry. The yellows of lions and summer
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: grass and the sound of the matted lion lungs exhaling
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: on the silent noontide.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: And the smell of meat from the panting, dripping mouth.
• 10:01
  Speaker 8: George, I'm afraid they're so real.
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: They're only an illusion, Lydia, that's all. Watch out! Out, quick, outside!
• 10:15
  Speaker 8: They almost got us.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: Now take it easy, calm down.
• 10:18
  Speaker 8: I could feel their breath.
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: Get a hold of yourself, Lydia. They aren't real. Walls,
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: that's all it is. Crystalloid walls.
• 10:24
  Speaker 8: They look so real.
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: Of course they do. But it's all dimensional color reactionary
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: process and metal tape film behind glass screens. It's all
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: odorophonics and sonics. Now, here. Take my handkerchief.
• 10:39
  Speaker 8: I'm afraid. Did you see? Did you feel it? It's
• 10:43
  Speaker 8: too real.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: No, no, Lydia.
• 10:46
  Speaker 8: And we've got to tell... wendy and peter not to read.
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: Any more on africa of course of course.
• 10:51
  Speaker 8: I want you to lock that place up but.
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: You know how difficult peter is about that i punished
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: him last week by locking the nursery for an afternoon
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: and he threw a tantrum and wendy too well they
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: live for.
• 11:02
  Speaker 8: The nursery it's got to be locked that's all there
• 11:04
  Speaker 8: is to it you've.
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: Been working too hard lydia you need a rest.
• 11:08
  Speaker 9: I don't know maybe i don't have enough to do
• 11:11
  Speaker 9: i have too much time to think All I do
• 11:14
  Speaker 9: is set the menu selector dials at the beginning of
• 11:16
  Speaker 9: the week.
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: But that's the whole idea. The house is automatic.
• 11:20
  Speaker 9: I know, but couldn't we turn it off for about
• 11:22
  Speaker 9: a week and take a vacation?
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: You mean you want to fry eggs for me?
• 11:27
  Speaker 9: And darn socks. I feel like I don't belong here.
• 11:31
  Speaker 9: The house is wife and mother and maid. How can
• 11:35
  Speaker 9: I compete with the African belts?
• 11:37
  Speaker 8: George, those lions can't get out of there again.
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: Of course not, dear. Now don't think about it anymore.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: They ate along.
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: He sat idly watching the dining room table produce warm
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: dishes of food from its mechanical interior.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: You forgot the ketchup. That's better.
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: It wouldn't hurt to lock the children out of the
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: nursery for a while. It was clear that they had
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: been spending too much time in Africa. At sun, he
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: could feel it on his neck still like a hot paw.
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: And the lions and the smell of blood. Remarkable how
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: the nursery caught the telepathic emanations of the children's minds
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: and created a life to fulfill their desires. The children
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: thought zebras, and there were zebras.
• 12:32
  Speaker 6: Sun, sun.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: Giraffes, giraffes. Death and death. They were so young.
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: But long before you knew what death was, you were
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: wishing it on someone else. But this, the long, hot
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: African veldt, the awful death in the jaws of a lion, and.
• 12:53
  Speaker 5: Repeated again and again and again.
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: The children came home dutifully at 8.30.
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: Hi, Mom. Hi, Pop.
• 13:06
  Speaker 8: Hi. Do you want something to eat, dear? We're just
• 13:09
  Speaker 8: having dessert.
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: We're full of.
• 13:10
  Speaker 7: Strawberry ice cream. And hot dogs. We'll just sit and watch.
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: Sure. Uh, Peter, uh, tell us about the nursery. The nursery?
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: All about Africa and everything.
• 13:24
  Speaker 7: I don't understand.
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: Well, your mother and I were just traveling through Africa
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: with Rod and Rio.
• 13:29
  Speaker 7: There's no Africa in the nursery.
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: Oh, come now, Peter. We know better.
• 13:34
  Speaker 7: I don't remember any Africa. Do you, Wynn?
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: Uh-uh.
• 13:39
  Speaker 7: Go run and see, huh?
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: Sure.
• 13:41
  Speaker 7: I'll be right back.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: Wendy, come back here. Wendy!
• 13:43
  Speaker 7: Oh, she'll be right back, Pop.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: She doesn't have to. I've seen it. Come on.
• 13:48
  Speaker 8: Sure, Pop.
• 13:49
  Speaker 7: But Wendy will tell us.
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: Open the door.
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: See, Daddy?
• 13:55
  Speaker 8: It's not Africa.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: It's Florida.
• 13:58
  Speaker 7: Like in Bambi. There go the deer. See? It isn't Africa.
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: I see it isn't. Go to bed.
• 14:06
  Speaker 7: But it is a nine o'clock.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: You heard me. Go to bed. Okay.
• 14:11
  Speaker 7: Good night, Mom. Good night, Pop.
• 14:13
  Speaker 8: Good night. Good night, dear. I'll be right in.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: Wait a minute, Lydia. Look at this.
• 14:20
  Speaker 8: What is it?
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: This is the corner where the lions were, isn't it?
• 14:24
  Speaker 8: What is that you picked up?
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: An old wallet of mine. There's a smell of hot
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: grass on it. And the smell of a lion... It's
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: wet with saliva. And it's been chewed.
• 14:41
  Speaker 8: George. Those smears are blood.
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: Come on out. Now let's go to bed. But in
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: the middle of the night, he was still awake. And
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: he knew his wife was awake. George. George.
• 15:06
  Speaker 8: How did your wallet get in the nursery?
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: I don't know. Wendy must have changed the walls from
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: the African belt. I'm going to keep it locked. Maybe
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: it isn't good for the children. My father used to
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: say children are like carpets. They should be stepped on occasionally.
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: We've never lifted a hand. They're spoiled and we're spoiled.
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: I think I'll have Dr. McLean come tomorrow morning and
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: have a look at Africa.
• 15:33
  Speaker 8: But it isn't Africa now. It's Florida and Bambi.
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: I have a feeling it'll be Africa again before then.
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: Although their automatic somnobeds tried very hard, the two adults
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: could not be rocked to sleep for another hour.
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: A smell of cats was in the night air.
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: Then in the morning, the stove cooked French toast, and
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: the dining room table poured the syrup and melted butter. Pop? Yes?
• 16:11
  Speaker 7: You aren't going to lock up the nursery for good,
• 16:14
  Speaker 7: are you?
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: That all depends.
• 16:16
  Speaker 7: On what?
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: On you and your sister.
• 16:18
  Speaker 8: We feel you should have some variety, dear.
• 16:21
  Speaker 7: I wouldn't want the nursery locked up ever.
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: Well, as a matter of fact, we're thinking of turning
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: the whole house off for about a month. Sort of
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: camping out.
• 16:28
  Speaker 8: Be fun for a change. Now, don't you think so, Wendy?
• 16:32
  Speaker 7: No, it'd be awful. I don't want to do anything
• 16:36
  Speaker 7: but look and listen and smell. What else is there
• 16:39
  Speaker 7: to do?
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: Oh, all right, all right. Go play in Africa.
• 16:43
  Speaker 7: Are you going to shut off the house soon?
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: We're considering it.
• 16:46
  Speaker 7: I don't think you better consider it anymore, Pop.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: I won't have any threats from you, son.
• 16:52
  Speaker 7: Okay, Pop. Come on, Wendy. Let's get back.
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: After breakfast, Dr. David McLean arrived.
• 17:11
  Speaker 5: I saw the nursery last year, George. It looked all
• 17:13
  Speaker 5: right to me.
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: You didn't notice anything unusual? No.
• 17:16
  Speaker 5: The pattern showed the usual violence, a tendency towards slight paranoia.
• 17:21
  Speaker 5: All children feel persecuted by their parents, a perfectly normal.
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: There. There it is. Suppose we take a look at
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: it now. They entered without knocking and sent the children out.
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: The screams had faded and the lions were feeding quietly
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: under the trees.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: I wish I could see what they're eating. How long
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: has this been going on? A little over a month.
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: Certainly doesn't feel good. I don't want feelings. I want facts.
• 17:52
  Speaker 5: George, George, a psychologist never saw a fact in his life.
• 17:55
  Speaker 5: He knows about feelings. And this doesn't feel good. Now,
• 17:59
  Speaker 5: my advice to you is to have the whole room
• 18:01
  Speaker 5: torn down and your children brought to me every day
• 18:03
  Speaker 5: for the next year for treatment.
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: Is it that bad?
• 18:06
  Speaker 5: I'm afraid so. You know, that's why the nursery was
• 18:09
  Speaker 5: developed originally, to let us examine the patterns left on
• 18:13
  Speaker 5: the wall by a child's mind.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: But what is it? What's wrong with Peter and Wendy? Well,
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: it's hard to say. I haven't punished them more than average. Oh,
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: I took away a few gadgets. Last week, I locked
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: the nursery to show I meant business.
• 18:25
  Speaker 5: You've let this room replace you and your wife and
• 18:29
  Speaker 5: your children's affections. This room is their real father and mother,
• 18:33
  Speaker 5: and now you come along and want to shut it.
• 18:35
  Speaker 5: You can feel the hatred coming out of that sky. George,
• 18:40
  Speaker 5: turn everything off. The nursery, the automatic kitchen, the whole
• 18:42
  Speaker 5: automatic house.
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: Start now. But won't the shock be too much for
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: the children? I don't want them going any deeper.
• 18:48
  Speaker 5: Let's get out of here.
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: I never like these rooms. I get nervous. Those lions
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: look real, don't they? I don't suppose there's any way... What?
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: That they could become real. Not that I know. Some
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: flaw in the machinery, tampering? No. No. I don't imagine
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: the room will like being turned off. Nothing ever likes
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: to die, even a room. I wonder if it hates
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: me for turning it off.
• 19:12
  Speaker 5: Paranoia is thick today.
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: Hello.
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: Is this your scarf? It's stained. Brown.
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: Blood.
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: That's Lydia's. Come on, the main fuse box is out here.
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: Go ahead, pull the switch. Yeah. It's off.
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: The two children were in hysterics. They screamed and kicked
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: and threw things. They yelled and sobbed and swore and
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: jumped on the furniture, weeping.
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: It's off and it stays off. The whole house dies
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: as of now.
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: He marched around the house, cutting switches and pulling fuses.
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: Don't let them do it.
• 20:15
  Speaker 7: Don't let Pop kill everything.
• 20:16
  Speaker 8: I hate you. I hate you.
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: Insults won't get you anywhere.
• 20:21
  Speaker 7: I wish you were dead.
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: We were for a long while. Now we're going to
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: start really living. Instead of being handled and massaged, we're
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: going to live.
• 20:29
  Speaker 7: Once more, Daddy.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: Just once more.
• 20:33
  Speaker 7: One more minute of the nursery, that's all. Just one
• 20:36
  Speaker 7: more minute.
• 20:37
  Speaker 8: Oh, George, it can't hurt, really.
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: Oh, all right. All right, only shut up. One minute,
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: and that's the end. Forever.
• 20:47
  Speaker 7: Gee, thanks, Pop.
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: Thanks. And then we're going on a vacation. Dr. McLean
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: is coming in half an hour to help us out. Lydia,
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: turn on the nursery for just a minute.
• 20:56
  Speaker 8: Oh, boy.
• 20:57
  Speaker 7: Come on, Wendy. Come on.
• 20:59
  Speaker 8: Thanks, Daddy.
• 21:00
  Speaker 7: Thanks a lot.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: Just one minute, remember? Now, where'd I put those suitcases? Lydia!
• 21:06
  Speaker 8: Don't shout, George. I'm right here.
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: Did you leave them alone in the nursery?
• 21:10
  Speaker 8: Well, I've got to get ready, George.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: Well, I guess we'd better get them out of there
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: before they get involved with those beasts again.
• 21:15
  Speaker 5: Pop!
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: Pop, come here! Daddy!
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: Mommy!
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: Come on, quick!
• 21:20
  Speaker 8: Wendy!
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: Peter!
• 21:21
  Speaker 8: What's the matter?
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: Hurry up! Open the nursery door.
• 21:27
  Speaker 6: Wendy!
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: Peter! They aren't anywhere. Wendy! Peter! Peter! The door! Open
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: the door! They've locked up from the outside.
• 21:37
  Speaker 9: Peter!
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: Peter! Peter!
• 21:39
  Speaker 8: Wendy, Peter, open the.
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: Door, dear. Let us out, Peter. Open the door.
• 21:44
  Speaker 6: It's time to go.
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: Open the door.
• 21:49
  Speaker 8: George, the lions.
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: Peter, do you hear me? Open this door.
• 21:54
  Speaker 8: They're all around us, George.
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: Son.
• 21:58
  Speaker 8: Son, do you hear me? Let us out!
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: Son! George! Look out!
• 22:04
  Speaker 9: The lions!
• 22:05
  Speaker 4: They're coming!
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: No! Son! Son! When Dr.
• 22:21
  Speaker 4: David McLean came half hour later, he found the two
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: children in the nursery sitting in the center of the
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: open glade eating a picnic lunch. Beyond them was the
• 22:30
  Speaker 4: waterhole and the yellow veldtland.
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: Above was the hot sun. At a distant, Dr.
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: McLean saw the lions fighting and clawing and then settling
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: down to feed in silence under the shady trees.
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: Hi, kids. Where are your mom and dad?
• 22:45
  Speaker 7: Oh, they'll be here directly.
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: Good, good. We've got to get along.
• 22:53
  Speaker 4: He squinted at the lions with his hands up to
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: his eyes. Now they were done feeding and they moved
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: to the waterhole to drink. A shadow flickered as the
• 23:02
  Speaker 4: vultures dropped down from the blazing sky to finish what
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: the lions left. Dr.
• 23:09
  Speaker 7: McGlean?
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: Dr.
• 23:10
  Speaker 7: McGlean?
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: Huh?
• 23:12
  Speaker 4: What?
• 23:13
  Speaker 7: Have a cup of tea?
• 23:21
  Speaker 5: Which concludes my report to date. There were no lions,
• 23:26
  Speaker 5: of course. Not in a physical sense. Lydia and George
• 23:30
  Speaker 5: were devoured, however, almost as surely as if there had
• 23:33
  Speaker 5: been lions. Their personalities were devoured by the mechanistic marvels
• 23:39
  Speaker 5: which had usurped their role as parents. All four members
• 23:43
  Speaker 5: of the family are under intensive therapy now and are
• 23:46
  Speaker 5: doing as well as can be expected. Send that by
• 23:50
  Speaker 5: teller rope, Miss Carver. Oh, and would you ask George
• 23:54
  Speaker 5: Abbott to step inside?
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: I'm ready for him now.
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: You have just heard X-1, presented by the National Broadcasting
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: Company in cooperation with Street and Smith, publishers of astounding
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: science fiction. Tonight, by transcription, X-1 has brought you The Veldt,
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: written by Ray Bradbury and adapted for radio by Ernest Kenoy.
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: Featured in the cast were Mary Patton, Bill Quinn, David Pfeffer,
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: Beverly Lunsford, Charles Penman, and John Larkin.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: Your announcer, Fred Collin.
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: X-1 was directed by Dan Sutter and is an NBC
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: Radio Network production.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: Our curtain falls on X-1 and the Veldt. Follow X-1
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: for more classic broadcasts.