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The Rocket from Manhattan, by Arch Oboler · Lawrence University: Theatre of the Air

• 0:30
  00:59 --> 01:14on the campus of Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, we celebrate the best of old-time radio. This year's Radio Drama Festival explores the macabre twists and stunning range of one of radio's most populardramatists, Arch Obler. 01:18 --> 01:42This is your host, Emma de Corset. On behalf of the staff and students of the Department of Theatre andDrama, we welcome you to Mr. Obler's eerie radio play, Rocket from Manhattan. Written in just a few weeksafter U.S. forces dropped atomic weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Mr. Obler examines a frightening returntrip from the moon in the year 2000. 01:42 --> 01:53Listen carefully to hear Obler's introduction to this radio play on September 20, 1945. 01:54 --> 02:12Prophecy is an easy thing, for rarely is the prophet brought to judgment. Tonight I bring you a false prophecy.The place of our story is a great rocket speeding away from the moon. Yes, away. For the Yrst trip to the moonhas finally taken place, and the triumphant airship is now rapidly returning to the Mother Earth. 02:12 --> 02:26Here, then, is a story about a tomorrow Yfty-Yve years hence. September 20, in the year of our Lord, 2000. On board a rocket ship, a play that is, I sincerely hope, a very false prophecy. 02:26 --> 02:56 Thank you.
• 3:56
  03:58 --> 04:00 If you're worried about our landing, I'm not. 04:00 --> 04:01 You worried, Reynolds? 04:02 --> 04:03 No, sir. Everything's in perfect order. 04:04 --> 04:05 Sure, Doc, this is going to be a round trip. 04:06 --> 04:09 Anyway, there's 24 hours before we have to worry about that. 04:10 --> 04:11 Yes, Doctor. It's time for celebration. 04:12 --> 04:14 Oh, I'm glad to be alive, boys. 04:15 --> 04:16 I'm glad to be alive. 04:16 --> 04:18I 'm riding on a rocket train. 04:18 --> 04:21 Reynolds! Major Reynolds! 04:21 --> 04:23 Are you men out of your minds? 04:24 --> 04:25 You, Major Russell. 04:26 --> 04:28 Reynolds is still a boy, but you're a mature man. 04:29 --> 04:31 Please act maturely. 04:31 --> 04:32 Oh, but, Doctor. 04:33 --> 04:35 I'll grant you that our adventure has gone well. 04:35 --> 04:36 Well is right. 04:36 --> 04:37 We've been to the moon. 04:37 --> 04:39 My congratulations, Reynolds. 04:39 --> 04:40 Thank you. Thank you, Major. 04:40 --> 04:42 Put the medal on my other chest. 04:42 --> 04:44 Would you men please listen to me? 04:44 --> 04:46 We're 48,000 miles from the Earth. 04:46 --> 04:47 And headed right for it. 04:47 --> 04:48 We're not there yet. 04:49 --> 04:53 Doc, pardon the expression, but you're a gloomy Joe. 04:53 --> 04:54 I am a realist. 04:55 --> 04:58 But, Doctor, the possibilities of anything going wrong are remote. 04:58 --> 05:00 Surely we're entitled to relax and relish in what we've done. 05:01 --> 05:02 We've done it, Doc. 05:02 --> 05:05 Even if we never get back, we've done it. 05:05 --> 05:07 We've been to the moon, and it'll always be there on the books. 05:07 --> 05:11 I'm not interested in becoming a historical fact, Major Russell. 05:12 --> 05:14 The data we've collected, that's my only interest. 05:14 --> 05:16 May I ask you and Reynolds to get back to your posts? 05:16 --> 05:18 Oh, but everything's going like clockwork. 05:18 --> 05:19 Look at the gauges. 05:20 --> 05:23But we are out of radio contact with the Earth. 05:23 --> 05:25 Yes, sir, but we are on course. 05:26 --> 05:28 Doc, what's wrong? 05:28 --> 05:29 Wrong? 05:29 --> 05:31 What should be wrong? 05:31 --> 05:32 No, no, no, the kid's right, Doc. 05:32 --> 05:36 Ever since we made the circle and started back, you've been acting as if we didn't make it. 05:37 --> 05:41 We've got 243,000 miles, and we're three quarters of the way back. 05:41 --> 05:43 And we're in, Doc, we're in. 05:43 --> 05:45 So what's the matter with you? 05:45 --> 05:48 How old were you, Major, when the Second World War ended? 05:49 --> 05:51 Uh, about Yve. 05:51 --> 05:52 What's that got to do with it? 05:52 --> 05:53 And you, Reynolds? 05:53 --> 05:54 You weren't even born. 05:55 --> 05:55 No, sir. 05:56 --> 06:01 I was 21 on that day in New Mexico when they set off that Yrst chain reaction. 06:02 --> 06:02 21. 06:04 --> 06:06 Doc, you mean to say you were at the beginning of it? 06:07 --> 06:07 Of course he was. 06:08 --> 06:12 Dr. Chamberlain was one of the original research men on the atomic bomb project back in 45. 06:13 --> 06:14 The only one of them alive today. 06:14 --> 06:15 Well, what do you know? 06:15 --> 06:18 So that's why you wanted to make this trip, Doc. 06:18 --> 06:18 I mean, you... 06:18 --> 06:19 Yes, Major. 06:20 --> 06:24 You wanted it as a substitution for what you missed as a boy. 06:24 --> 06:26 The excitement and glory of war. 06:26 --> 06:27 Oh, now, Doc, that's... 06:27 --> 06:28 It's true. 06:29 --> 06:32 And Reynolds here is young and idealistic. 06:32 --> 06:34 The scientific wonder of it is what he wanted. 06:35 --> 06:36 And I... 06:36 --> 06:39 I was there at the birth of an era. 06:40 --> 06:42 Now atomic power is driving me into space. 06:42 --> 06:44 And back to the earth, where it all began. 06:45 --> 06:46 And I'm thinking... 06:47 --> 06:47 Yeah, Doc? 06:48 --> 06:51 Well, it's not pertinent to any of this. 06:52 --> 06:54 We have no time to discuss our emotions. 06:54 --> 06:55 There's work to be done. 07:09 --> 07:11 Airspeed 23486. 07:11 --> 07:14 Airspeed 23486. 07:15 --> 07:18 Interior temperature 68.2. 07:18 --> 07:20 Interior temperature 68.2. 07:21 --> 07:21 Well, that's it. 07:22 --> 07:22 Yes. 07:22 --> 07:24 Any radio contact, Reynolds? 07:24 --> 07:25 No, sir. 07:25 --> 07:26 How about that, Doc, huh? 07:28 --> 07:30 Unfortunate, but not very vital. 07:30 --> 07:31 We're deYnitely on course. 07:31 --> 07:32 How much longer will it be, Doc? 07:33 --> 07:34 Ten hours. 07:34 --> 07:35 At the most, ten hours. 07:35 --> 07:37 In the middle of LaGuardia Field. 07:37 --> 07:38 That's where I'd like to land. 07:38 --> 07:39 I hope not. 07:39 --> 07:40 Texas, isn't that it? 07:40 --> 07:41 Sure, sure. 07:41 --> 07:43 We'll hit the eats right on the nose. 07:43 --> 07:45 If the auxiliary jets work. 07:45 --> 07:46 Well, they worked on the moon. 07:46 --> 07:47 They'll work on the landing. 07:48 --> 07:49 We're the good luck boys, Doc. 07:49 --> 07:50 We can't miss. 07:51 --> 07:54 You have the optimism of a 16-year-old Reynolds. 07:54 --> 07:56 You'd better get back to your radio. 07:56 --> 07:57 Try phone contact. 07:57 --> 08:00 Major, check the jet temperatures. 08:00 --> 08:03 Right jet 1580. 08:03 --> 08:06 Right jet 1580. 08:06 --> 08:07 Left jet 1583. 08:07 --> 08:09 Left jet 1583. 08:09 --> 08:12 Speed 24, 832. 08:12 --> 08:14 Speed 24, 832. 08:14 --> 08:15 XR1 calling CQ. 08:16 --> 08:17 XR1 calling CQ. 08:18 --> 08:18 Hello? 08:18 --> 08:18 Hello? 08:19 --> 08:19 Hello? 08:21 --> 08:22 XR1 calling CQ. 08:22 --> 08:24 XR1 calling CQ. 08:24 --> 08:24 Hello? 08:25 --> 08:25 Hello? 08:26 --> 08:26 Hello? 08:26 --> 08:26 Any luck? 08:27 --> 08:28 No, sir. 08:28 --> 08:30 Put your transmitter back on automatic. 08:30 --> 08:30 Yes, sir. 08:31 --> 08:33 Why do you laugh, Major? 08:33 --> 08:37 I was just thinking about how many millions of telescopes are turned in our direction. 08:37 --> 08:38 Yes. 08:38 --> 08:39 Well, what you said a few hours ago. 08:40 --> 08:42 I mean about my wanting excitement and adventure? 08:42 --> 08:44 That's true, you know. 08:44 --> 08:48 I'm 60 years old, and I guess I've just lived for this chance. 08:48 --> 08:52 The Army hadn't okayed my going, but, well, here I am. 08:52 --> 08:57 And once we land, I'll admit, frankly, I'm going to cash in on every bit of it and have myself a time. 08:57 --> 08:58 You know something? 08:59 --> 09:01 I get to feeling kind of depressed when I think it'll soon be over. 09:02 --> 09:04 Well, there's no reason for depression, is there? 09:04 --> 09:06 I couldn't answer that. 09:06 --> 09:07 Why not? 09:08 --> 09:12 You've been wondering, undoubtedly, why, since we left the moon, I've been acting strangely. 09:13 --> 09:13 That's right. 09:14 --> 09:19 I've never believed in predestination, and yet there's been a sort of motivation of fate in my life. 09:20 --> 09:25 At 21, I was part of that research team trying to adapt atomic power to military purposes. 09:26 --> 09:32 When our Yrst bomb went off over the New Mexico desert, a newspaper man repeated the words, 09:32 --> 09:33 What hath God wrought? 09:34 --> 09:36 And no one quite knows it. 09:37 --> 09:41 I've been wondering and waiting 55 years for the answer. 09:41 --> 09:45 I think I found it a few hours ago on the moon, and it's an answer full of horror. 09:45 --> 10:06 Well, the major sure is sleeping. 10:06 --> 10:07 Yes. 10:07 --> 10:09 It's only a few more hours, isn't it? 10:09 --> 10:10 Yes. 10:10 --> 10:13 Will we have to put on our compression suits the way we did on takeoff? 10:13 --> 10:14 Yes, of course. 10:14 --> 10:16 Doctor, may I ask you something? 10:17 --> 10:17 Yes. 10:18 --> 10:22 Before, you spoke of Ynding an answer on the moon, and then you didn't say any more. 10:22 --> 10:23 Well, I've been thinking about it. 10:24 --> 10:28 I was wondering if it was something the major couldn't understand, and that's why I didn't speak of it further. 10:28 --> 10:29 And now you want to know. 10:29 --> 10:30 Yes, sir. 10:30 --> 10:34 I haven't lived anywhere as long as you two have, but my life has been built around atomic power. 10:35 --> 10:37 My dad, he was one of your men. 10:37 --> 10:42 Why, ever since I was a child, becoming a physicist like Dad was and you are, Dr. Oppenheimer and all the rest. 10:42 --> 10:43 Why, that was it. 10:44 --> 10:50 But now, all of a sudden, the way you spoke before is as if our research has been criminal. 10:51 --> 10:52 Do you mean that? 10:52 --> 10:53 Do you? 10:55 --> 10:55 Collision radar! 10:56 --> 10:56 Get out of... 10:56 --> 10:57 What's the matter? 10:57 --> 10:59 Object approaching 15 degrees west. 10:59 --> 11:00 There it is! 11:01 --> 11:01 Meteorite! 11:01 --> 11:02 It's a meteorite! 11:02 --> 11:05 Oh, that was the closest. 11:06 --> 11:07 It was indeed. 11:07 --> 11:11 It'd be sardonic indeed to collide with a meteorite at this point in our journey. 11:11 --> 11:13 I'd use a stronger word than sardonic, Doctor. 11:13 --> 11:15 Yeah, like fatal. 11:17 --> 11:18 It's all clear. 11:18 --> 11:20 Well, I break it back to my posts. 11:21 --> 11:22 No, Reynolds. 11:23 --> 11:26 Reynolds, you asked me a question before and I want to answer it. 11:27 --> 11:28 You too, Major Russell. 11:28 --> 11:29 I want you to hear this. 11:30 --> 11:30 Sure. 11:31 --> 11:35 Reynolds overheard what I said to you, that I had found the answer to a very old question on the moon. 11:36 --> 11:42 He said that he felt somehow that I felt that all the research on atomic power had been criminal. 11:43 --> 11:44 No, young man. 11:44 --> 11:45 I don't believe that. 11:46 --> 11:46 Not at all. 11:47 --> 11:49 Criminal to know more about a way of nature? 11:50 --> 11:51 No. 11:51 --> 11:53 The answer I found was something else. 11:54 --> 11:56 I haven't even an answer. 11:56 --> 11:58 Perhaps only a theory. 11:58 --> 12:07 When we came within 100 miles of the moon and then began to decelerate, to turn back, what did we see through the observation ports? 12:07 --> 12:08 Well, Doc. 12:08 --> 12:09 No, please. 12:09 --> 12:09 No, please. 12:10 --> 12:11 Let me tell you what I saw. 12:12 --> 12:14 The craters of the moon. 12:14 --> 12:16 Great, gigantic craters. 12:17 --> 12:22 And as we came closer and closer, the look of them was so familiar. 12:23 --> 12:29 Not because I'd seen them through telescopes and photographs, but for some reason that I couldn't quite understand. 12:31 --> 12:32 Craters of the moon. 12:33 --> 12:48 And suddenly, when we'd come as close as we'd dare, and our ship swung into an orbit to return, suddenly I knew it was a memory of another crater I'd seen 55 years before in New Mexico from an observation plane high above the ground. 12:48 --> 13:09 A few hours after the Yrst atomic bomb had lit the sky with a new sun, yes, the crater in the crust of the earth that bomb had left was the same as the craters on the moon. 13:09 --> 13:10 So what? 13:10 --> 13:11 I don't get it. 13:12 --> 13:12 Yes, Doctor. 13:13 --> 13:14 What are you getting at? 13:14 --> 13:18 The crater in the desert was a thousandth the size of the one you're talking about. 13:18 --> 13:29 I suddenly began to think, was it not possible that the moon had gone through the same evolutionary processes as our earth, before our earth? 13:29 --> 13:42 Yes, wasn't it possible that men had come into being on the moon, developed their own civilization, had known scientiYc progress as we have, but long before we earth men had known it. 13:42 --> 13:42 Say, Doc. 13:43 --> 13:44 You do understand. 13:45 --> 13:55 These men of the moon had discovered the secret of atomic power long before we did, and then had used it to blast and tear each other. 13:56 --> 14:03 Yes, and the craters on the moon, that terrible devastation, was the record of the destruction of their civilization, 14:03 --> 14:13 a Ynal war which had burned up the atmosphere and left the moon a dead planet, circling endlessly in an airless sky. 14:15 --> 14:16 All right, Doctor. 14:16 --> 14:24 Presuming your theory is correct that these moon men had started through a war, a chain of atomic reactions they couldn't stop, well, it indicates that they were fools. 14:24 --> 14:25 Yeah, that's it. 14:25 --> 14:26 Fools. 14:26 --> 14:27 Are we any wiser? 14:39 --> 14:41 Speed, 2,482. 14:41 --> 14:43 You'd better cut it down. 14:43 --> 14:43 Right. 14:43 --> 14:44 How much? 14:45 --> 14:47 About 15%. 14:47 --> 14:47 Right. 14:48 --> 14:49 You got anything, Reynolds? 14:49 --> 14:50 No, sir. 14:50 --> 14:51 Would you come here a moment? 14:51 --> 14:52 Yes, sir. 14:53 --> 14:54 Will you help me with this port covering? 14:55 --> 14:55 Yes, sir. 14:55 --> 14:56 Going to take a look, huh? 14:57 --> 14:58 Yes, that's it. 14:59 --> 15:01 Oh, there she is. 15:01 --> 15:01 Mama Earth. 15:02 --> 15:03 Reynolds, the cameras. 15:04 --> 15:05 Yes, sir. 15:05 --> 15:06 How much should I run, Doctor? 15:06 --> 15:08 Put it on automatic exposure. 15:08 --> 15:08 Yes, sir. 15:09 --> 15:10 Six more hours, eh, Doctor? 15:11 --> 15:11 Or less. 15:12 --> 15:14 Sure we haven't made a mistake and headed for Venus? 15:17 --> 15:18 Just a bad joke, Doc. 15:18 --> 15:20 No, there's no two ways about it. 15:20 --> 15:22 The outline of the continents? 15:22 --> 15:25 We can't make any mistake about that being our home address. 15:26 --> 15:27 I wonder how much they can see of us. 15:27 --> 15:30 What are we, 6,000, 7,000 miles out? 15:30 --> 15:34 You know, this reminds me of a time about 25 years ago. 15:34 --> 15:38 The Army sent me up to 1,000 miles to take observation photographs. 15:38 --> 15:41 Well, you remember how the atomic reaction motors were then. 15:41 --> 15:43 We got up about 500 feet. 15:43 --> 15:43 Major, look down. 15:43 --> 15:43 What? 15:44 --> 15:44 Look. 15:45 --> 15:45 What? 15:45 --> 15:46 I don't see anything. 15:46 --> 15:47 Look, I tell you. 15:47 --> 15:48 Reynolds, come here. 15:48 --> 15:49 What's the matter? 15:49 --> 15:50 Is something wrong? 15:50 --> 15:51 Well, the doc says there's something. 15:51 --> 15:52 Reynolds, look. 15:52 --> 15:53 Do you see? 15:54 --> 15:54 Yes. 15:55 --> 15:56 What is it? 15:56 --> 15:57 I see it, too. 15:57 --> 15:59 Bright lights going on and off. 15:59 --> 16:01 But what's going on down there? 16:01 --> 16:03 Doctor, are they signaling us? 16:04 --> 16:04 Are they signaling? 16:04 --> 16:06 At 6,000 miles? 16:06 --> 16:06 Why? 16:06 --> 16:07 Why should they? 16:07 --> 16:07 That's right. 16:07 --> 16:08 There is no such plan. 16:08 --> 16:09 Look at it. 16:10 --> 16:11 It is lights going on and off. 16:11 --> 16:13 But they're all coming from one area. 16:13 --> 16:14 Can you make out where? 16:14 --> 16:15 North America. 16:15 --> 16:16 Well, then they are signals. 16:16 --> 16:17 The candle in the window. 16:18 --> 16:19 Your own question. 16:19 --> 16:20 At 6,000 miles? 16:20 --> 16:21 Wait a minute. 16:21 --> 16:22 Are they explosions? 16:23 --> 16:24 Explosions? 16:24 --> 16:26 Major, doctor, is that it? 16:27 --> 16:27 Are they explosions? 16:28 --> 16:29 I don't know. 16:43 --> 16:44 CQ. 16:44 --> 16:44 CQ. 16:44 --> 16:45 Hello? 16:45 --> 16:46 Hello? 16:47 --> 16:48 I'm sorry, doctor. 16:49 --> 16:50 I can't raise anything. 16:50 --> 16:51 Doc, doc, come here. 16:51 --> 16:52 Yes? 16:52 --> 16:52 Doc, look. 16:53 --> 16:54 The closer we get. 16:54 --> 16:55 They are explosions. 16:55 --> 16:56 Three more hours. 16:57 --> 16:57 We'll know. 16:57 --> 16:59 I want to know now. 16:59 --> 17:00 Reynolds, what's the matter with you? 17:01 --> 17:02 Why can't you make radio contact? 17:02 --> 17:03 I'm doing everything I can. 17:04 --> 17:05 Major, look. 17:05 --> 17:06 Craters. 17:06 --> 17:07 Look. 17:08 --> 17:08 Craters. 17:08 --> 17:09 Craters. 17:09 --> 17:11 At this altitude, you couldn't possibly. 17:11 --> 17:13 At each eash, I do see them. 17:13 --> 17:13 Okay. 17:14 --> 17:14 Okay. 17:14 --> 17:15 What does it mean? 17:15 --> 17:17 What are you looking at me like that for? 17:17 --> 17:18 What does it mean? 17:18 --> 17:19 Doctor, Major, something's coming through. 17:19 --> 17:20 It's about time. 17:20 --> 17:22 I can only hear it faintly. 17:22 --> 17:22 What? 17:23 --> 17:23 What? 17:23 --> 17:24 Please, let me listen. 17:25 --> 17:27 United States bombed. 17:28 --> 17:28 Reynolds? 17:28 --> 17:29 What is it? 17:29 --> 17:30 Tell us. 17:30 --> 17:32 Well, I couldn't quite make out. 17:32 --> 17:34 Well, he said... 17:34 --> 17:34 Said what? 17:35 --> 17:35 Tell us. 17:35 --> 17:35 War. 17:36 --> 17:37 He said war. 17:38 --> 17:40 Blasting the United States off the face of the earth. 17:41 --> 17:41 Blasting? 17:42 --> 17:44 That's a joke, isn't it? 17:45 --> 17:45 Isn't it? 17:45 --> 17:45 Isn't it? 17:45 --> 17:45 Isn't it? 17:47 --> 18:02 What are they sending now? 18:02 --> 18:03 What now? 18:03 --> 18:06 It began an hour ago. 18:06 --> 18:07 No warning. 18:08 --> 18:12 Projectiles, radio control, point of origin, unknown. 18:13 --> 18:14 Oh! 18:15 --> 18:15 It stopped again. 18:16 --> 18:16 Transmission. 18:16 --> 18:17 That's enough. 18:17 --> 18:19 Where's the International Police Force? 18:19 --> 18:20 What's being done about it? 18:20 --> 18:21 Doctor! 18:21 --> 18:22 Doctor, did you hear? 18:22 --> 18:23 It was an attack without warning. 18:24 --> 18:25 Who could it be? 18:25 --> 18:26 What's the idea? 18:27 --> 18:29 The explosions are increasing in frequency. 18:29 --> 18:29 Reynolds! 18:30 --> 18:32 Reynolds, is there anything more coming through? 18:32 --> 18:33 No, nothing. 18:34 --> 18:35 Yes, yes! 18:35 --> 18:36 They've started transmission again. 18:36 --> 18:37 Alright, let's have it. 18:37 --> 18:37 Quick. 18:38 --> 18:39 Some station in the Midwest. 18:39 --> 18:40 I can't get the call letters. 18:40 --> 18:41 Who cares? 18:41 --> 18:43 He says it's hell. 18:43 --> 18:44 Ground shaking. 18:45 --> 18:48 No bombs landed near, but air reconnaissance. 18:48 --> 18:50 It's so garbled I can hardly make it out. 18:50 --> 18:50 Well? 18:51 --> 18:52 It started an hour ago. 18:52 --> 18:53 Well? 18:53 --> 18:54 Everything burning. 18:56 --> 18:57 It stopped again. 18:57 --> 18:58 There's nothing. 18:58 --> 18:58 Doctor! 18:58 --> 18:58 Doctor! 18:59 --> 19:02 Doctor, in heaven's name, what do you think it's all about? 19:02 --> 19:05 Stop staring out of the window and talk to me! 19:05 --> 19:06 What are they doing? 19:07 --> 19:08 What do you mean, what are they doing? 19:09 --> 19:10 They're bombing us! 19:10 --> 19:11 Blasting us! 19:11 --> 19:12 It's war! 19:12 --> 19:13 But who? 19:13 --> 19:14 We've got to Ynd out. 19:15 --> 19:16 Reynolds, Ynd out who? 19:16 --> 19:17 It's no use. 19:17 --> 19:18 There's no transmission. 19:18 --> 19:20 Doctor, those bombs, where are they coming from? 19:21 --> 19:22 Can't you tell by the trajectory? 19:23 --> 19:24 At this distance? 19:24 --> 19:27 And what difference does the face of the enemy make? 19:27 --> 19:28 It's happening, that's all. 19:29 --> 19:29 Smashed them. 19:29 --> 19:31 I always said we should have smashed them. 19:32 --> 19:33 Exterminated them 50 years ago. 19:34 --> 19:37 Well, they were so peaceful for so many years. 19:37 --> 19:39 The eashes are increasing in frequency. 19:40 --> 19:41 Reynolds, get on that radio. 19:41 --> 19:42 I'll try again. 19:42 --> 19:43 I've got to know who. 19:43 --> 19:44 Who the devil... 19:44 --> 19:46 We had agreements with everyone. 19:47 --> 19:48 The international... 19:48 --> 19:49 Devils! 19:49 --> 19:49 All of them. 19:50 --> 19:50 I call them devils. 19:50 --> 19:52 I don't even know who they are. 19:52 --> 19:53 Reynolds, get anything? 19:54 --> 19:54 No. 19:55 --> 19:55 No, I don't. 19:55 --> 19:56 Doctor, faster. 19:57 --> 19:58 Let's get down there faster. 19:58 --> 19:58 Let's open it up. 19:58 --> 20:00 Will you know better than that? 20:01 --> 20:02 We're entering the atmosphere. 20:02 --> 20:05 We increase speed and we'll burn up like a meteorite. 20:05 --> 20:07 But I'm an army man. 20:07 --> 20:09 All my life I've been trained... 20:09 --> 20:09 It's coming through, sir. 20:09 --> 20:10 What? 20:10 --> 20:10 What? 20:11 --> 20:11 The bombs. 20:12 --> 20:13 Nothing can... 20:13 --> 20:14 I can hardly make it out. 20:14 --> 20:14 Well, keep at it. 20:14 --> 20:15 Panic. 20:16 --> 20:16 Paratroopers. 20:16 --> 20:16 Who? 20:17 --> 20:22 Last message from United States of... 20:22 --> 20:24 It's ended. 20:25 --> 20:26 There is no more. 20:46 --> 20:49 If we'd only get down there faster. 20:49 --> 20:51 Only 500 more miles. 20:51 --> 20:52 Look at it down there. 20:52 --> 20:54 Our Air Force, protective measures. 20:55 --> 20:56 What happened to them? 20:56 --> 20:57 What happened? 20:58 --> 20:58 Doctor. 20:59 --> 20:59 You. 20:59 --> 21:01 Why don't you say something? 21:02 --> 21:04 You just sit there for hours watching. 21:05 --> 21:07 This isn't a scientiYc experiment going on down there. 21:08 --> 21:09 They're blasting us to pieces. 21:10 --> 21:10 Us. 21:11 --> 21:12 Us. 21:12 --> 21:13 Our atomic bomb. 21:13 --> 21:14 The Great Secret. 21:15 --> 21:17 Hold it over the world and have peace forever. 21:17 --> 21:18 You said that. 21:19 --> 21:19 You. 21:19 --> 21:21 I was a kid then. 21:21 --> 21:25 I heard you say it on the radio when they gave you a medal. 21:25 --> 21:28 Hold it over the world and have peace forever. 21:29 --> 21:31 Well, what do you got to say now? 21:32 --> 21:34 We had a wonderful 55 years. 21:34 --> 21:35 What? 21:35 --> 21:37 Everybody had a wonderful time. 21:37 --> 21:38 Reynolds, what's the matter with him? 21:38 --> 21:39 He's gone. 21:39 --> 21:39 No. 21:40 --> 21:41 No, let him Ynish. 21:41 --> 21:43 First thing, we hung the war criminals. 21:43 --> 21:53 55 years ago and as soon as their bodies stopped swinging, we left the crowd and each went back to his own house and shut the door. 21:54 --> 21:57 You said the peace would hold forever. 21:57 --> 22:07 I said it because I thought that when the secret was put away, the people of the world would remember the terror. 22:08 --> 22:14 I said to myself, now, surely now that they've seen the possibility of the disintegration of the earth, 22:14 --> 22:21 they'll be drawn together once again into the family of men just as it must have been in the beginning. 22:22 --> 22:25 I forgot what years could do. 22:26 --> 22:29 I forgot how quickly forgetfulness comes. 22:30 --> 22:39 I forgot that in only a few years, Hiroshima and Nagasaki would be only yesterday's sensations for a nation eager for sensations for a day. 22:39 --> 22:43 You keep asking me who's sending those bombs against us? 22:43 --> 22:44 Who? 22:45 --> 22:57 I tell you, we're sending them against ourselves because had we made our way of life something more than a confused dream of shiny machines and happy endings, 22:57 --> 22:59 those bombs would not be eying at us. 23:00 --> 23:09 I said the peace would hold forever because I thought out of that war at least man had learned that there was no defense against hatred and revenge. 23:09 --> 23:13 But the defense of education for the unity of people. 23:13 --> 23:16 It was a race, gentlemen, against time. 23:17 --> 23:22 And we wasted our last 55 years running on a track of chromium and plastics. 23:22 --> 23:23 And so we've lost. 23:24 --> 23:24 Forever. 23:26 --> 23:27 We've never lost. 23:27 --> 23:28 Look. 23:29 --> 23:30 The blasts are increasing. 23:30 --> 23:31 Doctor, look! 23:31 --> 23:32 The color of the blasts. 23:33 --> 23:35 Oh, dear God. 23:35 --> 23:35 What? 23:36 --> 23:38 Doctor, it's nitrogen, isn't it? 23:38 --> 23:39 Nitrogen? 23:39 --> 23:39 What? 23:40 --> 23:41 The fools. 23:42 --> 23:43 The everlasting fools. 23:43 --> 23:44 I warned them. 23:44 --> 23:45 The blasts. 23:45 --> 23:45 More and more. 23:46 --> 23:48 They've started something they couldn't end. 23:48 --> 23:50 The color of the blasts. 23:50 --> 23:52 They've set off hydrogen atoms. 23:52 --> 23:54 I don't know what... 23:54 --> 23:59 We used uranium, plutonium, and when the initial blast was over, that was all. 23:59 --> 24:01 But hydrogen, that's part of life. 24:01 --> 24:06 One reaction sets off another like setting off an endless chain until... 24:07 --> 24:08 Look down there. 24:08 --> 24:09 The blasts. 24:09 --> 24:09 Faster. 24:09 --> 24:09 Faster. 24:10 --> 24:10 Faster. 24:10 --> 24:11 They're spreading. 24:11 --> 24:12 The fools. 24:12 --> 24:14 God help the fools. 24:14 --> 24:16 A shade of eame around the earth. 24:17 --> 24:19 Doctor, tell me, what is it? 24:19 --> 24:21 It's burned up all the atmosphere. 24:21 --> 24:22 Burned up? 24:22 --> 24:24 Reynolds, what does he mean? 24:24 --> 24:25 The chain reaction. 24:26 --> 24:28 Burned up all of the air. 24:32 --> 24:32 Major. 24:32 --> 24:32 Major. 24:33 --> 24:33 Major, the left jet. 24:34 --> 24:34 It's all right. 24:35 --> 24:35 It's all right. 24:36 --> 24:37 All right? 24:37 --> 24:38 Where are we going? 24:38 --> 24:39 There's no air. 24:40 --> 24:41 No life. 24:41 --> 24:42 The moon. 24:42 --> 24:43 The earth. 24:43 --> 24:44 The same. 24:44 --> 24:46 How much fuel? 24:46 --> 24:47 There's the gauge. 24:47 --> 24:48 Two. 24:48 --> 24:49 Three hours? 24:50 --> 24:51 Yes. 24:51 --> 24:52 I think that's right. 24:52 --> 24:52 Isn't it, Major? 24:53 --> 24:54 Yes. 24:54 --> 24:56 Well, what do we do? 24:56 --> 24:58 You ask that question now. 24:59 --> 25:00 The Major no longer asks it. 25:01 --> 25:02 Do you know the answer, Major? 25:02 --> 25:03 Sure. 25:04 --> 25:07 We'll circle around and we'll crash. 25:07 --> 25:07 Oh. 25:08 --> 25:09 No. 25:09 --> 25:10 It'll be all right, my boy. 25:11 --> 25:12 My words again. 25:13 --> 25:14 We'll have peace. 25:15 --> 25:16 Forever. 25:16 --> 25:16 Forever. 25:41 --> 25:43 From Manhattan by Arch Obler. 25:44 --> 25:48 Brought to you by the Lawrence University Theater of the Air and the Department of Theater 25:48 --> 25:49 and Drama. 25:49 --> 25:54 This episode was directed by our producer and artistic director, Timothy Troy. 25:55 --> 25:59 Tonight's radio play starred our special guest, Norman Gilliand. 25:59 --> 26:03 Major Russell was portrayed by Devin Schaaf and Albert Reiser played Reynolds. 26:04 --> 26:06 Elaine Gajewski introduced our play. 26:07 --> 26:12 Music for this program and Lawrence Theater of the Air theme music was composed and conducted 26:12 --> 26:16 by Kenneth Hemba and performed by the Lawrence Radio Orchestra. 26:17 --> 26:23 The players were Miranda Wardell, Patrick Davis, Stacey Anderson, Jonathan Jacobson, Elliot 26:23 --> 26:24 Dupuis, and Scott Palmer. 26:25 --> 26:27 Special effects courtesy of Chad Close. 26:27 --> 26:29 He was assisted by Chris Warman. 26:30 --> 26:32 The light board was operated by Miriam Ackerman. 26:33 --> 26:37 Our sound engineer is David Owens, who makes us sound better than we really are. 26:39 --> 26:45 For Lawrence Theater of the Air, this is your host, Emma de Corset, reminding you what 26:45 --> 26:47 Lawrence students have known for years. 26:47 --> 26:53 While listening to radio drama makes you smart, making radio plays makes you both popular and 26:53 --> 26:56 beautiful, so pick up a microphone today. 26:56 --> 27:26 Thank you. 27:26 --> 27:27 Thanks for coming, folks. 27:28 --> 27:29 Look for us again next year.