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X Minus One - "Pictures Don't Lie" (Old Time Radio, 1956) · X Minus One | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: A newspaper journalist follows the investigation of a radio signal
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: arriving from interstellar space, and scientists soon find that it
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: carries television pictures. That situation brings us to NBC's X-1,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Episode 72, Pictures Don't Lie, broadcast October 24, 1956. Ernest
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Kenoy adapted Catherine McLean's galaxy science fiction story for radio,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: with Joe DeSantis, John Gibson, Sam Gray, and Dick Hamilton
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: in the cast. As reporters and researchers prepare for the
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: possible arrival of the vessel behind the transmission, the images
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: on that makeshift receiver take on an increasing importance. Settle
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: in now for a mid-century meeting of radio, television, and
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: the unknown. And now, we return to the original broadcast.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: Countdown for blastoff. X minus 5, 4, 3, 2, X
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: minus 1, fire.
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: From the far horizons of the unknown come transcribed tales
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: of new dimensions in time and space.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: These are stories of the future.
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: Adventures in which you'll live in a million could be
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: years on a thousand maybe worlds. The National Broadcasting Company,
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: in cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine, presents.
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: X minus 1.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: Tonight's story, Pictures Don't Lie, by Catherine McLean.
• 2:15
  Speaker 5: I had been writing science stories for the Times for
• 2:18
  Speaker 5: a few years before the whole business of the aliens
• 2:20
  Speaker 5: came up. I got on to doing science because I
• 2:23
  Speaker 5: wasn't a very good sports writer, and the Guild made
• 2:26
  Speaker 5: it clear to the manager that I had enough seniority
• 2:28
  Speaker 5: to make it tough to fire me. So when Masters
• 2:31
  Speaker 5: went over to Life magazine, I was shoved into his spot. Now,
• 2:36
  Speaker 5: being the man from the Times on any given story
• 2:38
  Speaker 5: is quite a responsibility. It's not quite as awe-inspiring as
• 2:42
  Speaker 5: the London Times. You remember the butler announcing there were
• 2:45
  Speaker 5: several reporters and a gentleman from the Times? But we're
• 2:50
  Speaker 5: supposed to look as if we didn't specialize in axe
• 2:52
  Speaker 5: murders and picking winners at Jamaica.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: Of course, it pays off.
• 2:56
  Speaker 5: You find scientists, atomic energy commissioners, Even congressmen will open
• 3:00
  Speaker 5: up to the Timesman. And that's how I got on
• 3:03
  Speaker 5: the inside of this whole business. I had met Joseph
• 3:06
  Speaker 5: Nathan at a convention in Atlantic City. And when he
• 3:09
  Speaker 5: invited me to look over this work, I accepted. I
• 3:14
  Speaker 5: don't think there's anything classified in this work, Mr. Schwartz,
• 3:17
  Speaker 5: as long as I don't actually supply you the text
• 3:20
  Speaker 5: of messages.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: I got a department clearance up to most confidential. That
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: should do it. Hello, Max.
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: Hi.
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: Hi.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: You see, my job is radio decoder in the department here.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: Under the Pentagon directly? Department of Military Intelligence. I use
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: a directional pickup to tune in on foreign bands, record
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: any scrambled or coded messages I hear. I thought the
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: code department was handled under CIA. Well, I guess there
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: is some duplication. Actually, though, I concentrate on the scrambled messages.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: Let's see. Here, I can show you. Come over here.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: Look out for the table.
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: Anybody want coffee?
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: I've got a piece of tape here.
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: This is a.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: Typical scrambled broadcast. It's not military. It's a commercial message.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: Wait a minute till I thread up the machine. You
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: know the basic principles. You take a straight voice message,
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: run it through on an electronic scramble circuit. It may
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: come out something like this. My job is to pick
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: a thing like that out of the air, analyze the patterns,
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: and wire an unscrambler. I've got this particular pattern set
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: up on the machine, you see.
• 4:28
  Speaker 6: Tanker number 734, capacity code 7, estimated time of arrival
• 4:35
  Speaker 6: at Galveston, 30.
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: You see?
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: Now, that was just a commercial message. I do the
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: same thing with military intelligence.
• 4:42
  Speaker 5: Is it something like old-fashioned cryptology? Well, yes, except there's
• 4:45
  Speaker 5: a small complication.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: You need a degree in advanced electronics, waveform math with
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: a touch of quantum physics. I suppose it's quite challenging, then,
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: every time you pick up a new signal. In a way. Actually,
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: they do the same work in every country these days.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: Everybody knows it's just a matter of time before any
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: scrambled pattern is broken. It's pretty routine. Ever pick up
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: anything exciting? Well, actually, most of the messages, when I
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: unscramble them, are still in prearranged code, and I have
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: to turn them over to cryptology. It's something like copying
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: Jabberwocky 500 times by longhand. Well, there is something interesting here.
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: Listen to this piece of tape. I don't hear anything. Well,
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: that was it. Now listen, there's another one coming up.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: That's it. Well, I get that on my car radio, static. Yes,
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: but that's from the stars. You mean radio interferences? That's right.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: I think you wrote about the work at Bell Telephone
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: and RCA Labs about radio telescopy mapping the star positions
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: by static. You're interested in that? Not exactly. They've never
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: been able to figure out why the static on these
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: particular bands comes in such jagged bursts. Just doesn't seem natural.
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: You have any ideas?
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: Oh, I don't know. I've been kicking around the notion
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: that it's not a natural phenomenon. I've been trying to
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: discard it, sort of like playing chess against yourself on
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: the train in the morning. Well, that's about all there is.
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: That's all it was then.
• 6:34
  Speaker 5: Joe Nathan swindling a few parts in a little government
• 6:36
  Speaker 5: time to ride a hobby horse of his. I wrote
• 6:39
  Speaker 5: up his job for the Sunday magazine section. It got
• 6:42
  Speaker 5: squeezed out for an article by a famous actress, on
• 6:45
  Speaker 5: the ten leading roles I disliked the most. So I
• 6:49
  Speaker 5: forgot about it, went back to announcing a miracle drug
• 6:52
  Speaker 5: per week and conflicting theories of psychoanalysis. I don't know
• 6:57
  Speaker 5: what I'd do without them. They're always good for a piece.
• 7:01
  Speaker 5: I was at the office late one night. I didn't
• 7:04
  Speaker 5: have any work, but I just didn't feel like going
• 7:06
  Speaker 5: home and putting the kids to bed. Schwartz.
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: Mr. Schwartz? That's right.
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: This is Joseph Nathan. Do you remember?
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, sure. How are you?
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: Mr. Schwartz, can you come out to my lab?
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: You mean Riverhead?
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: Yes. I'd like to show you something.
• 7:21
  Speaker 5: Well, maybe we can make an appointment. As a matter
• 7:22
  Speaker 5: of fact, I have to be out on Long Island
• 7:24
  Speaker 5: next week.
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: No, I mean tonight.
• 7:26
  Speaker 7: Oh?
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: What is it?
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: I think I've found something that you might be interested in.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: Yes?
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: You know those static bursts I recorded?
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: The ones that came from the stars?
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: That's right. I've decoded them.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: Oh.
• 7:50
  Speaker 5: When you write science for the Times, you don't often
• 7:52
  Speaker 5: go dashing off on the trail of scoops, as in
• 7:55
  Speaker 5: TV versions of newspaper life.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: But it was about a quarter to twelve as.
• 7:59
  Speaker 5: I drove out along the Montauk Highway, listening to Tex
• 8:02
  Speaker 5: and Jinx on the radio to keep from piling up
• 8:04
  Speaker 5: the car against the tree.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: Radio who keeps me awake.
• 8:08
  Speaker 5: Nathan was waiting for me at the gate, and he
• 8:10
  Speaker 5: had quite an argument to get me in past the MPs.
• 8:12
  Speaker 5: We were challenged four times before we got to his lab.
• 8:18
  Speaker 5: I'm glad you came, Mr.
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: Schwartz.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: Oh, it's a nice night for a drive. I know,
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: I know. But frankly, I wanted to ask you what
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: I should do. You see, I requisitioned the supplies without authorization.
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: And I don't know how to explain it to my
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: division chief. I mean, it isn't as if I took
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: any of the equipment home. It's all right here. But
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: I've got to tell somebody. I just thought you might
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: have some experience in how to handle a thing like this.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: Like what? Well, you remember that static recording I played you? Here,
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: I got it set up. Oh, yeah. Yes, I remember
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: it vividly. Now, Mr. Nathan, it's very late, and this
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: is far out on Long Island. Now, you see, there's
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: an old intelligence trick, speeding up on a recording till
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: it sounds just like that, a short squawk of static,
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: and then broadcasting it. Undergrounds use that when they don't
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: want their transmitters located by triangulations. When you receive the broadcast,
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: you slow it down and get your message. Oh, now,
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: wait a minute, wait a minute. You mean that you've
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: decoded those static bursts from the stars? Well, no, not exactly.
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: I mean they're not encoded. You think there's somebody out
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: there broadcasting at us? Well, no, it's not exactly that either.
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: Everything all right in here, Joe?
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: It's all right, Max.
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: Mr.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: Schwartz has a clearance. Okay, see you in the morning.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: You see, if a star has planets, inhabited planets, and
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: there was any broadcasting between them, They'd send it on
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: a tight beam to save power. It's the same method
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: we used to aim radio beams at the satellite stations.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: You don't lose power. But you couldn't aim from planet
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: to planet. You can't expect a beam to stay on
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: target over such distance more than... a few seconds at
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: a time. It'd be like trying to keep a flashlight
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: on a bouncing ball from a mile away. Yeah, yeah,
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: I see. So they naturally compress each message into a
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: short half-second or half-length package and send it a few
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: hundred times in one long blast to make sure it
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: was picked up during the instant the beam swings across
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: the target.
• 10:21
  Speaker 4: You see?
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: Huh? Well, uh, yeah, I suppose so. Uh, is that
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: what those static squawks were? I think so. I've got
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: them analyzed up to a point, and they can't possibly
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: be random.
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: Oh?
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: I recorded a couple of screeches from Sagittarius section, and
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: I concentrated the work on them. It's taken me a
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: couple of months to find the synchronizing signals and set
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: the scanners close enough to the right time to even
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: get a pattern. But I'm getting close.
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: To it now.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: Huh?
• 10:52
  Speaker 5: You mean you've actually picked up messages from some form
• 10:54
  Speaker 5: of alien life out there in the stars?
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: Yes, you see, and this raises a tremendous problem. How
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: am I going to explain to the division chief why
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: I made all those unauthorized parts requisitions? I convinced Mr.
• 11:18
  Speaker 5: Nathan that his supervisor was likely to overlook about $ 300
• 11:22
  Speaker 5: worth of electronic gear when presented with the fact that
• 11:24
  Speaker 5: Nathan had discovered life in other star systems and was
• 11:27
  Speaker 5: close to deciphering some of their messages.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: The department put him on full time and gave him
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: an assistant.
• 11:33
  Speaker 5: It made me swear to sit on the story by
• 11:35
  Speaker 5: promising to give me the first break on it when
• 11:37
  Speaker 5: it was finally released. So I kept checking with Nathan
• 11:40
  Speaker 5: as he worked. I don't think it's a voice message.
• 11:44
  Speaker 5: What is it, a racing wire or what? Are we
• 11:46
  Speaker 5: catching late scratches from some track at the edge of
• 11:48
  Speaker 5: the galaxy?
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: I don't think so. It's a TV signal. Oh? There's
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: a definite scanning pattern. I can separate out the locking
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: poles for a picture. Yeah? The only problem is I've
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: no way of assigning colors to the various bands. Color?
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: What makes you think it's color? Oh, it seems as
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: if it's got to be. You and RCA. This is
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: the year color is here.
• 12:11
  Speaker 7: No.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: Look at these waveform analyses.
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: Huh?
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: With a band spread that wide, it rather indicates a
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: color transmission, don't you think? Well, sure, why not? Let
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: me know when you get the Steve Allen show.
• 12:30
  Speaker 5: And then, of course, he did. Not the Steve Allen program,
• 12:34
  Speaker 5: but the equivalent of it. He called me in about
• 12:36
  Speaker 5: four months later. Had a monitor screen set up on
• 12:39
  Speaker 5: a bare chassis with a wide band tape unit recording
• 12:42
  Speaker 5: everything that came in.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: Here, wait till I turn on the set. See, this
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: is what I've been trying to figure out for at
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: least a month. You see this picture? Yeah, looks like
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: a scotch plaid. Well, we finally assigned the colors so
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: that they seem to give a rational picture. Wait a minute,
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: I'll clear it up.
• 13:02
  Speaker 5: There.
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: Oh, there it is.
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: What is that? That's the signal from the stars. It's
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: a picture. Some kind of Distorted broadcast. That's what I said.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: It's a broadcast, and it's coming from somewhere out past Sagittarius.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: Do you want to hear the audio signal? That's their language?
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: That's right. We're sure about that. The colors were assigned arbitrarily,
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: of course. You see that figure there, the tall one?
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: With the green skin?
• 13:37
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: That skin may be blue or pink or gray or anything.
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: We don't know what their color response is. The only
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: thing we're sure about is the various shadings of intensity
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: and the audio channel.
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: What is it?
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: What's it all about? Well, we haven't decoded the language yet.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: There's a team from Harvard working on that. We record
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: everything that comes in, but I think it's a lending library.
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: A what? It's all fiction. It's plays. And there are
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: dozens of them, all at the same time. I think
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: they broadcast them continuously, and anybody who wants a particular
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: play can tune it in. With the short burst method
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: of transmission, they've got plenty of room in the spectrum.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: A lending library?
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: Of course.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: As soon as we break the language barrier, we'll know
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: for sure. Oh, by the way, I thought you might
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: be interested. I've sent them back a message.
• 14:28
  Speaker 5: Look, Nathan, when are they going to release this? When
• 14:30
  Speaker 5: can I use it?
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: I don't know. In the civil service, you don't ask
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: questions like that.
• 14:34
  Speaker 5: Now, look, I'm a newspaper man. This is the hottest story.
• 14:37
  Speaker 5: I thought you were from the Times. I know, I know,
• 14:39
  Speaker 5: but it's still a newspaper. What is the message you
• 14:41
  Speaker 5: sent them?
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: How do you do it? Well, I took a print
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: of a film. Yeah? As a matter of fact, it
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: was Punky Ellie's Dance of the Hours from the Disney film.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: You know, with the dancing hippopotamus and crocodile? I think
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: I remember it. Well, I scanned it with the same
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: combinations and sent it back along the same line we
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: were receiving from. Just testing.
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: Oh.
• 15:02
  Speaker 5: What do you think they'll make of dancing hippopotamuses and
• 15:05
  Speaker 5: crocodiles out past Sagittarius?
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: Oh, I recorded a prologue and I explained what it was.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: I thought it would please their library to get a
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: new record in. Look, Mr. Nathan, please, will you find
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: out when they'll release this? Well, as a matter of fact,
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: I do have an idea. The project supervisor said there'd
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: be big news when we get an answer back. When?
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: When?
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: When? Oh, at the rate of transmission? Only about... Three
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: or four years. That's what it was. Three or four years.
• 15:47
  Speaker 5: I forgot about Nathan for most of the time in
• 15:49
  Speaker 5: the interim. It was one of the few stories in
• 15:51
  Speaker 5: which nothing leaked. I have a feeling if the Pentagon
• 15:55
  Speaker 5: realized how much I knew about it, I never would
• 15:58
  Speaker 5: have gotten out of the laboratory at Riverhead. And so
• 16:02
  Speaker 5: this story seems a lot more direct than it actually was.
• 16:05
  Speaker 5: An awful lot happened in the four years before Nathan
• 16:07
  Speaker 5: called me again. Landing on the moon, for one.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: But when he did call me, he had big news.
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: Here.
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: Now watch this.
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: Watch.
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: Is that the recording of the message you sent out?
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: I've seen that before. No, no, it isn't. That's a
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: message we've received. They're playing it back to us. Now, wait. Wait.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: You'll see. Now, look.
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: You see?
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: There's an auditorium. They've been showing our message on a screen.
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: Look at them.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: What are they doing? Waving their hands in circles? Well,
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: that might be applause. You can't tell, but that isn't
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: the most important thing. Do you realize what the intensity
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: of this message was on an Omicron scale? 302.8. Yes. Now,
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: you'll see what I mean. Now, watch. Their camera, or
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: whatever they use, pans up from the audience. Look at
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: that wall. Hey, it looks like a ship's hold.
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: It is. It is.
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: It's a spaceship. That accounts for the intensity of the broadcast.
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: We've picked up an alien spaceship, and they've gotten our message.
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: They're approaching the solar system, and we'll be able to
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: contact them.
• 17:37
  Speaker 5: Joe, you know, I just don't care anymore. You've strung
• 17:42
  Speaker 5: me along with this thing for five years, and it's
• 17:45
  Speaker 5: no use to me. Absolutely no use.
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: Why didn't I tell you? The Department of Defense is
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: releasing the story to the press. You have it today,
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: and there'll be a general release tomorrow. And of course,
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: you remember the story. We had it first.
• 18:10
  Speaker 5: And any paper or TV broadcast that picked it up
• 18:13
  Speaker 5: before the general release had to carry my byline and
• 18:16
  Speaker 5: the Times' copyright. I think it was the most important
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: single newspaper beat that I've ever heard of.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: And of course, I did very well because of it.
• 18:25
  Speaker 5: It was page one in the upper right-hand corner of
• 18:27
  Speaker 5: the Times for eight days running. And then the arrangements
• 18:30
  Speaker 5: were made to cover the landing of the alien ship.
• 18:33
  Speaker 5: The White House press secretary handled the whole thing. There'd
• 18:35
  Speaker 5: be one pool man on the inside in direct contact
• 18:38
  Speaker 5: with Nathan, the linguist teams, and the brass. Naturally, I
• 18:42
  Speaker 5: got the pool assignment. There wasn't any question of it, really.
• 18:45
  Speaker 5: But the rest of the boys were in on the releases, briefings,
• 18:47
  Speaker 5: and press conferences. On arrival day, we were all schlepped
• 18:52
  Speaker 5: out to the apron at White Sands Rocket Base. The
• 18:54
  Speaker 5: concrete is graded to stand the thrust of those three-stage
• 18:57
  Speaker 5: giants that make the satellite moon runs.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: But they'd added a layer of molybdenum mesh.
• 19:02
  Speaker 5: sprayed with some kind of plastistella under theory that the
• 19:05
  Speaker 5: stresses of an interstellar ship might crack White Sands rocket
• 19:08
  Speaker 5: port like a pane of glass. The communications equipment was
• 19:11
  Speaker 5: set up in the old red-controlled blockhouse that hadn't been
• 19:14
  Speaker 5: used since a whack corporal missile misfired in 58. First,
• 19:19
  Speaker 5: they threw Nathan to the wolves in a press conference.
• 19:22
  Speaker 5: The TV boys with ultra-portables were down on their knees
• 19:24
  Speaker 5: in the first row, and the rest of us in
• 19:26
  Speaker 5: the base movie theater.
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: Nathan was up on the stage. Al Sullivan from the
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: news let it off.
• 19:33
  Speaker 4: Mr.
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: Nathan, what do you think of the aliens? Are they friendly?
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: Do they look human? Very human. Exactly where will the
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: alien ship land? Well, that isn't exactly my field, but
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: when you get out to the port, you'll see the strip.
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: It's like a tic-tac-toe diagram. The release describes the precautions
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: that have been taken, except for the grass strip along
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: the runways. The light area has been remodeled. Do you
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: know anything about their home planet? No, nothing directly. You
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: think they're dangerous, then? No, I don't think so. You realize, Mr.
• 20:05
  Speaker 5: Nathan, that the 8th Atomic Artillery Battalion has been drawn
• 20:08
  Speaker 5: up five miles north of the port, prepared for action.
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: Well, no, that's not my department. I don't know what
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: precautions the military has taken.
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: But you think they're friendly.
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: Those I know are. I've been in contact with the
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: radio operator of the ship. Bud says, I call him Bud,
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: that he's worked up quite a thirst on this trip.
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: Of course, we don't know what he drinks. We've no
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: common chemical terminology. We haven't been able to exchange spectroscopic
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: standards because we can't change the wavelengths accurately enough on
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: the broadcast. We've arranged for you to see some of
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: the recorded broadcasts we have made. When you watch them,
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: I'd like you to realize that these are plays, all fictional.
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: We haven't dubbed in a translation of the soundtracks, although
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: since these were recorded, we've developed an automatic translator. You'll
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: see that later. All right, I think we're ready for
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: the showing. If somebody will please dim the house lights.
• 21:11
  Speaker 5: Of course, I'd seen the films before, but I stayed
• 21:14
  Speaker 5: at the back of the hall to watch them again.
• 21:17
  Speaker 5: The almost human forms, half dancing, the colors bright but strange.
• 21:24
  Speaker 5: The sound was a flowing language with many shifts of pitch,
• 21:27
  Speaker 5: and there was that strange, odd motion Not slow, but
• 21:31
  Speaker 5: somehow drifting.
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: It had been bothering me for some time, the films.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: There was something in.
• 21:37
  Speaker 5: The way they walked. They were good actors. Even without
• 21:41
  Speaker 5: knowing what was happening, you were interested. You could tell
• 21:44
  Speaker 5: the hero from the villain sometimes, and you rooted for him. Finally,
• 21:48
  Speaker 5: I went out to the lobby, and I found Nathan
• 21:50
  Speaker 5: pacing up and down.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: What's on now? That recording that they returned with the Ponchielli.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: It's funny, you know. They're crazy about Ponchielli and Mozart.
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: Can't stand Gershwin.
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: Strange.
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: Joe, there's something wrong with the films. What do you mean?
• 22:06
  Speaker 5: Well, something wrong with the whole thing. It's a hunch.
• 22:10
  Speaker 5: I felt that way with the vaccine for the common cold.
• 22:12
  Speaker 5: Turned out to be a bust, huh? There's something about
• 22:15
  Speaker 5: the way they move.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: Well, that bothers me, too. When I turn the tape faster,
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: they're all rushing, and you begin to wonder why their
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: clothes don't stream behind them, why the doors don't close
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: quickly behind them, why things fall so fast. Well, we
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: don't have to worry about it. We'll see them in
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: about two hours when they land.
• 22:43
  Speaker 5: He seemed a little too cheerful. Joe Nathan wasn't like that.
• 22:48
  Speaker 5: He was usually too serious, took things literally. But he
• 22:52
  Speaker 5: seemed to be trying to convince himself that nothing could
• 22:54
  Speaker 5: go wrong. It was as if he smelled a rat
• 22:56
  Speaker 5: but held his nose and went right ahead. At minus
• 23:00
  Speaker 5: 30 minutes, we all took our places in the blockhouse.
• 23:04
  Speaker 5: They had a monitor set up with the automatic translator
• 23:06
  Speaker 5: hooked up on the audio channel, so the alien operator
• 23:08
  Speaker 5: looked as if he was talking English, but the lip
• 23:11
  Speaker 5: movement didn't quite match, like a bad foreign film with
• 23:14
  Speaker 5: English dialogue.
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: There he is. He's broadcasting. Throw on the translator unit.
• 23:22
  Speaker 6: We've decelerated enough to enter the atmosphere. We'll be landing
• 23:25
  Speaker 6: in three time periods. Hey, Joe, what is it?
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: A murky-looking planet you live on?
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: What does he mean by that? He's kidding. I've been
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: talking with him for a few weeks. He's got a
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: sense of humor. What does he mean murky? Can't be
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: raining over much territory on Earth. It rained here this morning,
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: but it's cleared up now. There he is again. See
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: the way he holds his mouth in an O? That's
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: their laugh. There, you can see his view screen behind him.
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: He must be just entering the atmosphere. There goes the
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: green light again. What's that? We're not getting this broadcast direct.
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: That light means they've sent a concentrated squawk broadcast. We
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: record it, slow it down, and then play it back here.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: Just a minute, and we'll get what he said. Here
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: it comes.
• 24:10
  Speaker 6: Hey, Joe, it's dark. Your atmosphere is thick, really thick.
• 24:14
  Speaker 6: You didn't tell me that. Approaching ground level.
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: I didn't hear any rocket jets. We should hear a
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: landing blast, shouldn't we? I don't know. I don't know.
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: Another message in.
• 24:27
  Speaker 4: We've landed. We're down.
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: But they can't be. They can't be. There's nothing out there.
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: Here he is again.
• 24:33
  Speaker 6: Listen, Joe, we're down. We're landed, but our detection field
• 24:37
  Speaker 6: shows no buildings near.
• 24:38
  Speaker 4: Nothing.
• 24:39
  Speaker 6: The atmosphere registers thick as glue. There's tremendous gas pressure.
• 24:44
  Speaker 6: Our hull won't take it too long. There's no light
• 24:46
  Speaker 6: at all. Joe, you didn't describe it like this. What
• 24:48
  Speaker 6: kind of a trick is this?
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: We've got a directional fix on the broadcast now.
• 24:53
  Speaker 4: Where is it?
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: There, on the field.
• 24:56
  Speaker 4: We're trying repair.
• 24:58
  Speaker 6: We're adjusting a view screen to pick up the long
• 25:00
  Speaker 6: waves to go through this murk. The engineer says there's
• 25:03
  Speaker 6: something wrong with the steam jets. We're sending a help
• 25:05
  Speaker 6: call to our nearest space base. Joe, get us out
• 25:08
  Speaker 6: of here.
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: Well, where are they? Where are they? There's nothing out there.
• 25:14
  Speaker 4: Nothing.
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: They'll have to triangulate the next broadcast again.
• 25:19
  Speaker 4: Joe, you've got to send a rescue party somehow.
• 25:21
  Speaker 6: Listen, we've got a viewing screen rigged now.
• 25:23
  Speaker 4: We're in the middle of a half circle of cliffs.
• 25:26
  Speaker 6: Around the horizon, there is a wide, muddy lake with swimming,
• 25:29
  Speaker 6: pulpy things attacking and eating each other on all sides.
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: We're almost in the lake on the soft edge.
• 25:35
  Speaker 6: The mud can't hold the ship's weight, and we're sinking.
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: The tubes are mud-clocked. When can you reach us?
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: They're out there, aren't they? They're out there on that airport,
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: on the empty field.
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: Where are you? We're sinking. Where are you?
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: I was wrong. The squawk transmission, by speeding it up
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: for better efficiency, I was wrong.
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: What do you mean?
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: They don't speed up their broadcasts. They live that fast.
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: Over an hour of talk and action in one squawk?
• 26:06
  Speaker 5: Nothing of any size could move that fast against inertia.
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: Joe, get us out. We're sinking.
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: We're sinking into the mud, into the lake.
• 26:14
  Speaker 4: The hull is buckling. Joe, get us out.
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: You can't, can you?
• 26:21
  Speaker 4: How?
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: Get them out. There isn't a lake or a river
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: within hundreds of miles from here. The direction finders. The
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: broadcast came from out there. From the concrete spaceport. Possibly
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: at the edge of the runway where the grass is growing.
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: After all, it rained this morning. Do you think we
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: could ever find them?
• 26:45
  Speaker 4: Maybe.
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: With a strong enough magnifying glass....
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: You have just heard X-1 presented by the National Broadcasting
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: Company in cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine, which this
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: month features Rattle OK by Harry Warner Jr., which demonstrates
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: that a time machine could be very useful for handling
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: a department store's complaints, provided you don't go too far
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: to please a customer. Galaxy Magazine, on your newsstand today.
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: Tonight by transcription... X-1 has brought you Pictures Don't Lie,
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: a story from the pages of Galaxy written by Catherine
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: McClain and adapted for radio by Ernest Canoy. Featured in
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: the cast were Joe DeSantis as Schwartz, John Gibson as Nathan,
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: Sam Gray as a newsman, and Dick Hamilton as the alien.
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: Your announcer, Fred Collins.
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: X-1 was directed by Daniel Sutter and is an NBC
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: Radio Network production.
• 28:16
  Speaker 7: One of the best, one of the most popular programs
• 28:18
  Speaker 7: on radio, that's You Bet Your Life with Groucho Marx.
• 28:21
  Speaker 7: And here's a reminder, now Groucho can be heard on Saturdays,
• 28:25
  Speaker 7: and he's on at a time when every member of
• 28:27
  Speaker 7: the family, from junior to grandpa, can join in the
• 28:29
  Speaker 7: laughter that goes with each question and answer session. A
• 28:31
  Speaker 7: new day, a new hour, but the very same fun
• 28:34
  Speaker 7: and good times that have made Groucho and You Bet
• 28:36
  Speaker 7: Your Life so popular throughout the years. Have you ever
• 28:39
  Speaker 7: met a hamburger king or an earthworm farmer or a
• 28:42
  Speaker 7: famous beauty contest winner? Well, these are some of those
• 28:44
  Speaker 7: who have appeared as Groucho's guests. Who will be his
• 28:47
  Speaker 7: guest Saturday? Well, that's a secret, but you can bet
• 28:49
  Speaker 7: your life they'll be full of fun and surprises. Have
• 28:52
  Speaker 7: you ever heard Groucho sing his classic Captain Spaulding or
• 28:55
  Speaker 7: throw a romantic line at a pretty girl contestant? You'll
• 28:57
  Speaker 7: enjoy all of Groucho's unpredictable antics again this season, Saturday,
• 29:02
  Speaker 7: the day for Groucho Marx, and you bet your life.
• 29:04
  Speaker 7: Check your newspaper. Hear music by Ralph Flanagan and Skinny
• 29:07
  Speaker 7: Ennis on Bandstand on NBC.
• 29:09
  Speaker 4: This has been X-1, Pictures Don't Lie, from October 24th, 1956.
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: Follow X-1 for more classic broadcasts.