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Dimension X - "Veldt" (1951) · Old Time Sci-Fi Radio | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: August 9th, 1951, NBC presents Dimension X, episode 43, Welt.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: From Ray Bradbury's story, adapted for radio by Ernest Kenoy,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: comes the Hadley family and their highly automated happy life home,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: where a thought-responsive nursery can create lifelike surroundings. George and
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Lydia Hadley grow concerned when the room repeatedly forms an
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: African veldt, complete with lions, and they turn to psychologist Dr.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: David McLean.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Leslie Woods and Bill Quinn portray the parents with Joan
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Lazor and David Anderson as their children. William Welch produced
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: and Fred Wye directed. Ladies and gentlemen, Dimension X. And now,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: our story begins.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: Adventures in time and space. Told in future tense.
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: The National Broadcasting Company, in cooperation with Street and Smith,
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: publishers of astounding science fiction, bring you Dimension X. The soundproofed,
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: happy life home.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: Had cost $ 30, 000 installed.
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: It clothed and fed and rocked them to sleep and
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: played and sang and was good to them.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: Their life purred on from day to day.
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: Measured and controlled by the nucleonic thermostats, the iridium sponge
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: servo brains that made the beds and washed down the
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: bathroom floors and made sure the salt cellars flowed freely
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: without clogging.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: Twice a day, the house paused.
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: Rang a quiet bell, and turned precisely 90 degrees on
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: its axis in order that the view from the Solaroid
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: living room windows might be varied to avoid ennui. Of course,
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: the pride of the house was the nursery. The agent
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: for the company had been most enthusiastic.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: This way, right down the hall. All right.
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: What was that?
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Oh, it's all automatic. The nursery turns itself on when
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: you come within 10 feet of it.
• 2:30
  Speaker 5: Soft automaticity.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: That's the motto of the company.
• 2:34
  Speaker 6: All right, now.
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: This is the nursery.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: 40 feet by 40 feet and 30 feet high.
• 2:43
  Speaker 7: Separate power unit with automatic overload circuit breakers. Inspected and
• 2:47
  Speaker 7: approved by the Underwriters Laboratory. The nursery is educational, instructive, entertaining,
• 2:53
  Speaker 7: and therapeutic. The entire control mechanism is adjusted to the electroencephalographic.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: Key of the child. How much does it cost? 30,000 FOB,
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: Los Angeles. But that's as much as the whole house.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: Why, no.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: But we do want the best for our children, don't we?
• 3:09
  Speaker 5: Oh, yes, we want the best for our children.
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: And it was the best. The crystalline walls wavered from
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: two to three dimensions. The pseudo-textured composition flooring shifted lightly
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: from brick to dirt to waving grass. And the odorophonics
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: rafted the scent of fantasy through the hermetically conditioned and
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: filtered air. The nursery was the very best. But then
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: they wanted the very best.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: For the children.
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: The technicians installed the nursery, and the heavy coaxial power
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: cable was run in from.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: The main line.
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: The walls sprang to life, and the mental control banks
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: and relays hummed.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: All right, Peter and Wendy. This is your nursery.
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: What's so special about a nursery, Dad?
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: Plenty. You just go in and see.
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: Do we have to? It's so big.
• 4:07
  Speaker 6: You promised you'd play ball with me outside, Pop.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: Go on, kids.
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: Try out the nursery.
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: It's better than any old yard.
• 4:15
  Speaker 5: Go on in, dear.
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: You'll be surprised. Gee.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: Go ahead, Wendy. I'm scared.
• 4:24
  Speaker 8: I'm not.
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: Hey, it's nice in here. It is? Come on in, Wendy. Boy,
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: look at the pictures on those walls. They're real.
• 4:36
  Speaker 5: Well, almost real.
• 4:37
  Speaker 9: You can change them any way you like just by
• 4:39
  Speaker 9: thinking about it.
• 4:40
  Speaker 5: Go on in, dear.
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: Well, all right, Mommy.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: Hey, Wendy, look what I can do with the pictures. What?
• 4:50
  Speaker 10: I just thought about it.
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: And there it was. Well, let me try, Peter. Let
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: me try.
• 5:02
  Speaker 6: Go ahead. Just think.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: How about the... Oh, I know.
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: I want to see the Wizard of.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: Oz. Well, dear, there we are.
• 5:18
  Speaker 5: They like it, don't they?
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: Well, why shouldn't they? Three dimensions. Color, sound, and smell.
• 5:27
  Speaker 9: Oh, think what it would have been like to have
• 5:28
  Speaker 9: a nursery like that when you were a kid.
• 5:31
  Speaker 5: It's nice that we can give them all the advantages.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: Why, sure. What else are we working for, huh? Child. Well,
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: what do you want to do this evening?
• 5:39
  Speaker 6: Well, the Peterson's asked us over for bridge, but.
• 5:42
  Speaker 9: Oh, we don't have to worry about the kids.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: They'll be all right in the nursery. Come on, Lydia.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: We deserve a night out.
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: And in the nursery, the walls were a kaleidoscope of
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: time and space and imagination. The green forest of Sherwood
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: and quiet forms of Robin and his merry men gave
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: way to the roll of the high seas and the
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: smell of salt in the air as Sir Henry Morgan
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: sailed into the harbor at Jamaica.
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: It's my turn now, Peter. You've got to be fair.
• 6:21
  Speaker 6: It's my turn.
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz followed the yellow brick
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: road round the nursery walls. Then Hansel and Gretel discovered
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: the gingerbread house about three feet from the door. And
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: from a high tower that stretched into the clouds, the
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: little lame prince sailed out over his kingdom. And behind
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: the crystal and quartz walls.
• 6:44
  Speaker 10: The.
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: Vacuum tubes and grids and banks of mental image tape
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: spun quietly and efficiently, erasing the line between illusion and reality.
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: Of course, the electric bill from Consolidated Utilities was tremendous,
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: but it was worth it.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: The house went on.
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: The stove hummed happily in the kitchen, making breakfast, dinner,
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: and supper for four, turning the eggs over lightly and
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: producing popovers electronically calculated by capacity to a 30-volt current
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: and specific gravity. The automatic laundry did the shirts with
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: a medium starch in the collars, except the button-down oxfords,
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: which had.
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: No starch at all.
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: The happy life home breathed contentedly as life proceeded with
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: soft automaticity as guaranteed in the brochure and bill of sale.
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: George.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: Huh?
• 7:34
  Speaker 5: George, I wish you'd look at the nursery.
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: Well, what's wrong with this?
• 7:39
  Speaker 5: Well, I don't know.
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: Well, then why... I just.
• 7:42
  Speaker 6: Want you to look at it, that's all. Or call
• 7:45
  Speaker 6: a psychologist to look at it.
• 7:48
  Speaker 9: What would a psychologist want with a nursery?
• 7:50
  Speaker 5: Oh, now, George, you know very well what he'd want.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: I was in the nursery last week. It's perfectly all right.
• 7:55
  Speaker 5: Well, it's different now. Huh?
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: What do you mean, different?
• 8:00
  Speaker 5: I just want you to come and see.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: Are the kids there?
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: No, Madge Allen took them to.
• 8:04
  Speaker 5: A show along with her kids. That's why I want
• 8:06
  Speaker 5: you to look in now before they get back.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: All right. What you expect me to do, I don't know.
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: I'm no mechanic.
• 8:13
  Speaker 5: This isn't a question of a leaky faucet, George.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: All right, dear, I'm coming.
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: The nursery light flicked on as they came down the hall.
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: The relays clicked and the tubes warmed and chemical odor
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: banks and pipes bubbled into life as they paused before
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: the closed door.
• 8:38
  Speaker 5: Go ahead, George. Open it.
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: On all sides, in three dimensions, stretched the hot, tired
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: landscape of an African veldt, reproduced to the last stick
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: and pebble and bit of straw. The ceiling above them
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: became a sky with a hot yellow sun. A wind
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: blew in from the baked veldtland. The hot straw smell
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: of lion grass. The cool green smell of the hidden waterhole.
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: The great rusty smell of animals. The smell of dust
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: like red paprika on the hot air.
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: And now the sounds. The sounds.
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: The howl of the jackal in the distance. The thump
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: of distant antelope feet on grassy sod. And the papery
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: rustling of the great vultures that wheeled and circled under
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: the yellow burning sun.
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: Oh, let's get out of this sun. It's a little
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: too real.
• 9:41
  Speaker 5: Oh, no, George. You promised you'd look around.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: Well, I don't see anything.
• 9:44
  Speaker 5: Now, wait a minute.
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: Look. There are the vultures. Filthy creatures.
• 9:50
  Speaker 5: And there.
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: There are the lions.
• 9:53
  Speaker 5: Far over that way.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: Yes, I see them.
• 9:56
  Speaker 6: They're on their way to the waterhole.
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: They've just eaten.
• 10:00
  Speaker 10: Eaten?
• 10:01
  Speaker 5: Yes, I can't see what?
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: The sun's too strong. Well, shade your eyes. It's some animal.
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: A zebra or a baby giraffe, maybe.
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: Can you see it?
• 10:14
  Speaker 5: Are you sure?
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: It's a little too late to be sure. Nothing over
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: there but clean bones. Vultures dropping for what's left. George.
• 10:23
  Speaker 6: Hmm?
• 10:23
  Speaker 5: Did you hear that scream?
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: What scream?
• 10:26
  Speaker 9: Just now.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: Sorry, I know. Here come the lions. George, they're frightening.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: Take it easy, Lydia. They're just illusions.
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: It was a miracle of mechanical efficiency. The lions prowling
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: toward them over the tawny veldtland. A miracle of inventive genius.
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: Every house should have one. The lions were 15 feet away.
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: So real, so startlingly real, you could feel the prickling.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: Fur on your hand.
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: Your mouth was stuffed with the dusty upholstery smell of
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: their heated pelts. And the yellow of them was in
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: your eyes, like the yellow of an exquisite tapestry. The
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: yellows of lions in summer grass. The sound of the
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: matted lion lungs exhaling on the silent noontide.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: And the smell of meat from the panting, dripping mouths.
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: George, I'm afraid. They're so real.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: They're only an illusion, Lydia, that's all.
• 11:25
  Speaker 9: Watch out!
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: Oh, quick, outside!
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: Oh, George, George.
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: Lydia, Lydia, my poor, sweet Lydia.
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: George, they almost got us.
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: No, no, no, no. Take it easy. Calm down.
• 11:47
  Speaker 6: I could feel they broke.
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: No, no, no.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: Get a hold of yourself, Lydia. They aren't real. Walls,
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: that's all it is. Crystalloid walls.
• 11:54
  Speaker 5: But they look so real.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: Yes, yes, darling. Of course they do.
• 11:58
  Speaker 9: But it's all dimensional color reactionary process and metal tape
• 12:01
  Speaker 9: film behind glass screens.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: It's all odor phonics and sonics. Now, here. Here, take
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: my handkerchief.
• 12:09
  Speaker 5: I'm afraid, George.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: Did you see?
• 12:12
  Speaker 5: Did you feel?
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: It's too real. No, Lydia.
• 12:15
  Speaker 6: We've got to tell Wendy and Peter not to read
• 12:16
  Speaker 6: any more on Africa.
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: Yes, yes, of course, of course, dear.
• 12:19
  Speaker 5: Do you promise?
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: Sure, sure.
• 12:21
  Speaker 5: And lock the nursery for a few days.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: Oh, now, wait a minute, dear. Let's keep our sense
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: of proportion.
• 12:27
  Speaker 5: George, I want you to lock that place up.
• 12:29
  Speaker 9: Honey, you know how difficult Peter is about that. I
• 12:32
  Speaker 9: punished him last week by locking the nursery for an afternoon.
• 12:35
  Speaker 9: He threw a tantrum, and Wendy, too. Honey, they live
• 12:38
  Speaker 9: for the nursery.
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: I tell you, it's got to be locked.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: That's all there is to it. Lydia, do you need
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: a rest?
• 12:44
  Speaker 8: Oh, I.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't know.
• 12:49
  Speaker 5: Maybe I don't have enough to do. I have too
• 12:52
  Speaker 5: much time to think.
• 12:54
  Speaker 6: All I do is set the menu selector dials at
• 12:56
  Speaker 6: the beginning of the week.
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: But, honey, that's the whole idea. The house is automatic.
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: I know.
• 13:02
  Speaker 6: But couldn't we turn it off for a couple of weeks?
• 13:04
  Speaker 5: Just a couple of weeks and take a vacation?
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: You mean that you want to fry eggs for me?
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: Yes, I do.
• 13:12
  Speaker 5: And darn socks, too. I feel like I don't belong here.
• 13:16
  Speaker 6: The house is wife and mother and maid. How can
• 13:20
  Speaker 6: I compete with the African veldt? And you, George, you
• 13:25
  Speaker 6: don't know what to do with yourself in the.
• 13:26
  Speaker 5: House when you're home.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: You're drinking too much. Am I?
• 13:31
  Speaker 5: You feel useless, too.
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: Yes, I suppose I do. George.
• 13:37
  Speaker 10: Hmm?
• 13:39
  Speaker 5: Those lions can't get out of there, can they?
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: Oh, of course not, dear. Now, don't think about it anymore.
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: They ate alone.
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: He sat idly watching the dining room table produce warm
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: dishes of food from its mechanical interior.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: You forgot the ketchup. That's better.
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: It wouldn't hurt to lock the children out of the
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: nursery for a while. It was clear that they'd been
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: spending too much time in Africa.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: Oh, that sun. He could still feel it on his
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: neck like a hot paw. And the lions. The smell
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: of blood. Remarkable how the nursery caught the telepathic.
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: Emanations of the children's minds and created a life to
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: fulfill their desires. The children fought zebras and there were zebras.
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: Sun. Sun. Death. And death. They were so young. But
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: long before you knew what.
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: Death was, you were wishing it on someone else. But this,
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: the long, hot African belt, the awful death in the
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: jaws of a lion, and repeated again and again and again.
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: The children came home dutifully at 8.30.
• 15:12
  Speaker 6: Hi, Mom. Hi, Pop.
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: Hi, Peter. You want something to eat, Wendy?
• 15:16
  Speaker 9: No, thanks.
• 15:17
  Speaker 5: Well, we're just having dessert.
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: We're full of strawberry ice cream.
• 15:20
  Speaker 6: And hot dogs.
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: We'll just sit and watch.
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: Sure. Uh, Peter, uh, tell us about the nursery.
• 15:29
  Speaker 5: Nursery?
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's all about Africa and everything.
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: I don't understand.
• 15:35
  Speaker 9: Your mother and I were just traveling through Africa with
• 15:37
  Speaker 9: Rod and Rio.
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: There's no Africa in the nursery.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: Oh, come now, Peter. We know better.
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: I don't remember any Africa.
• 15:47
  Speaker 6: Do you, Wen?
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: Uh-uh. Run and see, huh? Sure. I'll be right back.
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: Wendy, come back here. Wendy!
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: She'll be right back, Pop.
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: She doesn't have to. I've seen it. Now, come on. Sure, Pop.
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: Wendy will tell us, though.
• 16:05
  Speaker 5: Could they be lying?
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: We'll see in just a moment. Peter, open the door.
• 16:10
  Speaker 10: See, Daddy?
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: It's not Africa.
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: It's Florida.
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: Like in the early. There go the deers, see? It
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: isn't Africa.
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: Yes, I see it isn't. Go to bed.
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: But it isn't mine, of course. No, it isn't.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: You heard me. Go to bed.
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: Okay. Night, Mom.
• 16:37
  Speaker 6: Night.
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: Good night. Good night, dears. I'll be right in.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: Lydia, wait a minute. Here, look. Look at this. What
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: is it? This is the corner where the lions were,
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: isn't it?
• 16:48
  Speaker 5: What's that you picked up?
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: It's an old wallet of mine.
• 16:51
  Speaker 9: There's a smell of hot grass on it.
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: The smell of a lion. It's wet with saliva. And
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: it's been chewed.
• 17:04
  Speaker 5: George, those smears are blood.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: Come on out. Now let's go to bed. So they
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: went to bed. But in the middle of the night,
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: Lydia was still awake.
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: And she knew her husband was awake.
• 17:40
  Speaker 5: George.
• 17:40
  Speaker 4: Hmm?
• 17:43
  Speaker 5: How did your wallet get in the nursery?
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: I don't know. Wendy must have changed the walls from
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: the African belt. Honey, I'm going to keep it locked.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: Maybe it isn't good for the children.
• 17:56
  Speaker 6: It's supposed to help them work off their neuroses in
• 17:58
  Speaker 6: a harmless way.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: I'm starting to wonder.
• 18:02
  Speaker 5: We've given the children everything they wanted.
• 18:05
  Speaker 9: My father used to say children are like carpets. They
• 18:08
  Speaker 9: should be stepped on occasionally. We've never lifted a hand.
• 18:12
  Speaker 9: They're spoiled.
• 18:14
  Speaker 5: And we're spoiled.
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: I think I'll have Dr. McLean come tomorrow morning and
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: have a look at Africa.
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: Yes, Tony, it isn't Africa now. It's Florida and the yearling.
• 18:23
  Speaker 9: I have a feeling it'll be Africa again before then.
• 18:25
  Speaker 6: George, Wendy and Peter aren't in their room.
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: No. They've broken into the nursery.
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: They scream.
• 18:36
  Speaker 5: They sounded familiar.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: Did they? Yes, awfully.
• 18:42
  Speaker 5: Oh, George.
• 18:42
  Speaker 10: Oh, George.
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: Although their automatic.
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: Somnobeds tried very hard, the two adults couldn't be rocked
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: to sleep for another hour.
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: A smell of cats was in the night air.
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: And in the morning, the stove cooked French toast and
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: the dining room table poured the syrup and melted butter.
• 19:16
  Speaker 4: Yes? You aren't going to lock up the nursery for good,
• 19:20
  Speaker 4: are you?
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: That all depends.
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: On what?
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: With a little Sweden or China.
• 19:32
  Speaker 4: I thought we were free to play the way we like.
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: Well, you are within reasonable bounds.
• 19:37
  Speaker 4: Well, what's wrong with Africa, Daddy?
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: Oh.
• 19:41
  Speaker 9: Oh, so now you admit you've been thinking.
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: Of Africa, hmm?
• 19:45
  Speaker 4: I wouldn't want the nursery locked up ever.
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: Well, as a matter of fact.
• 19:49
  Speaker 9: we're thinking of turning the whole house off for about
• 19:51
  Speaker 9: a month. Sort of camping out.
• 19:54
  Speaker 6: You mean I'd have to tie my own shoes instead
• 19:56
  Speaker 6: of having my shoe tie do it?
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: And brush my own teeth.
• 19:59
  Speaker 6: And comb my own hair and give myself a bath?
• 20:02
  Speaker 5: Well, Wendy, it would be fun for a change, don't
• 20:04
  Speaker 5: you think, dear?
• 20:05
  Speaker 6: No, it'd be awful. I didn't like it when you
• 20:08
  Speaker 6: took out the picture painter last month.
• 20:10
  Speaker 9: Well, that's because I wanted you to learn to paint
• 20:12
  Speaker 9: by yourself.
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: I don't want to do anything but look and listen
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: and smell. What else is there to do?
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: Oh, all right. All right, go play in Africa.
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: Are you going to shut off the house?
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: We're considering it.
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: I don't think you'd better consider it anymore, Pop.
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: I won't have any threats from you, son.
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: Okay, Pop.
• 20:38
  Speaker 6: Come on, Wendy.
• 20:39
  Speaker 8: Let's get back.
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: After breakfast, Dr.
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: David McLean was announced by the audio knocker. And the
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: dining room table.
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: Recognizing him as an old friend.
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: poured an extra cup of coffee, light with four lumps.
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: I saw the nursery last year, George. It looked all
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: right to me. You didn't notice anything unusual?
• 21:18
  Speaker 9: No. The pattern showed the usual violence, a tendency toward
• 21:22
  Speaker 9: slight paranoia.
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: All children feel persecuted by their parents. Perfectly normal.
• 21:27
  Speaker 9: I locked the nursery and they broke into it last night.
• 21:30
  Speaker 9: I let them stay so they could form the patterns
• 21:32
  Speaker 9: for you to see.
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah. There it is. Well, suppose we take a look
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: at it right now.
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: They entered without knocking and sent the children out. The
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: screams had faded and the lions were feeding quietly under
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: the trees.
• 22:00
  Speaker 9: Wish I could see when they're eating. Do you suppose
• 22:03
  Speaker 9: some high-powered binoculars.
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: How long has this been going on? A little over
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: a month. It certainly doesn't feel good. I don't want feelings.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: I want facts. George. George, a psychologist, never saw a
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: fact in his life. He knows about feelings. And this
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: doesn't feel good.
• 22:28
  Speaker 9: My advice to you is to have the whole room
• 22:30
  Speaker 9: torn down and your children brought to me every.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: Day for the next year for treatment. Is it that bad?
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: I'm afraid so.
• 22:38
  Speaker 9: You know, that's why the nursery was developed originally. to
• 22:41
  Speaker 9: let us examine the patterns left on the wall by
• 22:44
  Speaker 9: a child's mind.
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: But what is it?
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: What's wrong with Peter and Wendy? Well, it's hard to say.
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: I haven't punished them more than average, though I took
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: away a few gadgets.
• 22:54
  Speaker 9: Last week I locked the nursery to show I meant business. George,
• 22:58
  Speaker 9: you've let this room replace you and your wife and
• 23:01
  Speaker 9: your children's affections. This room is their real father and mother.
• 23:05
  Speaker 9: And now you come along and want to shut it.
• 23:09
  Speaker 9: You can feel the hatred coming out of that sky.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: George, turn everything off. The nursery, the automatic kitchen, the
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: whole confounded automatic house. Start now. But won't the shot
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: be too much for the children? I don't want them
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: going any deeper. Let's get out of here. I never
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: liked these rooms. Get me nervous. Those lions look real,
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: don't they? I don't suppose there's any way that... What?
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: That they could become real. Certainly not. Some flaw in
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: the machinery. No, no, no. I don't imagine the room
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: would like to be turned up. Nothing ever likes to die.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: Even a room. I wonder if it hates me for
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: turning on.
• 23:59
  Speaker 11: Paranoia is thick today.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: Hello. Is this your scarf? It's stained. Brown. Say, that's blood.
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: That's Lydia's.
• 24:10
  Speaker 9: Come on, the main fuse box is out here.
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: Go ahead. Pull the switch. Yeah. It's off.
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: The two children were in hysterics. They screamed and kicked
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: and threw things. They yelled and sobbed and swore and
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: jumped on the furniture, weeping.
• 24:45
  Speaker 9: It's off and it stays off. The whole house dies
• 24:48
  Speaker 9: as of now. The more I see of the mess
• 24:51
  Speaker 9: we put ourselves in, the more it sickens me. We've
• 24:54
  Speaker 9: been contemplating our electrical, mechanical navel for too long.
• 24:58
  Speaker 6: We need air.
• 25:00
  Speaker 9: Fresh, unfiltered, unconditioned air.
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: He marched around the house, cutting switches and pulling fuses.
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: The stove was disconnected with a roast lamb in the
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: oven and a flapjack.
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: Still in the air.
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: The heaters, the shoe shiners, the shoelacers, the body scrubbers
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: and swabbers and massagers. He pulled the plugs and shorted
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: out the controls, one after the other. The house became
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: full of electronic corpses. It was a mechanical cemetery.
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: So silent.
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: None of the humming hidden energy of the machines waiting
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: to function at the tap of a button. And by
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: the still dining room table, its radionic insides dead and currentless,
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: Peter wailed at the house.
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: Don't let them do it! Don't let Pop kill everything!
• 25:55
  Speaker 6: I hate you, Pop!
• 25:56
  Speaker 4: I hate you!
• 25:57
  Speaker 5: Oh, Peter, please!
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: Insults don't get you anywhere.
• 26:00
  Speaker 9: I We were for a long while.
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: Now we're going to start really living.
• 26:05
  Speaker 4: One more, Daddy, just one more. Oh, Wendy, honey. One
• 26:08
  Speaker 4: more minute of the nursery.
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: That's all.
• 26:10
  Speaker 4: Just one more minute. Oh, George. George, it can't hurt, really.
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: Oh, all right, all right, only shut up.
• 26:17
  Speaker 9: One minute.
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: And that's the end. Forever.
• 26:23
  Speaker 4: Gee, thanks, Pop. Thanks.
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: Then we're going on a vacation. Dr.
• 26:28
  Speaker 9: McClain is coming in a half hour to help us out. Lydia,
• 26:32
  Speaker 9: turn on the nursery.
• 26:33
  Speaker 5: Now, remember, kids, it'll be just for one minute.
• 26:36
  Speaker 4: Oh, boy. Come on, Wendy.
• 26:38
  Speaker 6: Come on.
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: Oh, thanks, Daddy. Thanks a lot.
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: Just one minute, remember. Oh, where'd I put those suitcases? Lydia.
• 26:46
  Speaker 5: Don't, don't shout, George. I'm right here.
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: Oh, uh, did, did you leave them alone in the nursery?
• 26:51
  Speaker 5: Well, I've got to get ready, George.
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: Oh, that awful Africa.
• 26:55
  Speaker 5: What can they see in it?
• 26:57
  Speaker 9: Well, in an hour, we'll be on our way to Iowa, uh,
• 27:00
  Speaker 9: What prompted us to buy a nightmare like that?
• 27:03
  Speaker 4: Pride, I guess.
• 27:05
  Speaker 6: We had the money and we were foolish.
• 27:07
  Speaker 9: I guess we'd better get them out of there before
• 27:08
  Speaker 9: they get involved with those beasts again.
• 27:10
  Speaker 4: Pop!
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: Pop!
• 27:13
  Speaker 4: Pop, come in!
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: Come on, quick. Wendy!
• 27:18
  Speaker 5: Wendy, Peter, what's the matter?
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: Hurry up. Open the nursery.
• 27:24
  Speaker 4: Wendy!
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: Peter!
• 27:27
  Speaker 5: Well, they aren't anywhere.
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: Wendy! Wendy!
• 27:31
  Speaker 4: Peter!
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: Peter! The door. Open the door. They've locked it from
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: the outside.
• 27:38
  Speaker 6: Peter!
• 27:38
  Speaker 11: Peter, open up!
• 27:42
  Speaker 4: Peter!
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: Don't let them!
• 27:46
  Speaker 4: Don't let them turn off the nursery!
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: Now, don't get ridiculous, children. It's time to go. Wendy!
• 27:50
  Speaker 4: Wendy, open the door, dear!
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: Let us out! Peter, open the door! It's time to go!
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: Open the door!
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: George!
• 28:00
  Speaker 4: George, the lamb!
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: Peter, do you hear me? Open this door! They're all
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: around us! George!
• 28:07
  Speaker 4: Son! Son, do you hear me?
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: When Dr. David McLean came a half hour later, he
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: found the two children in the nursery sitting in the
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: center of the open glade, eating a picnic lunch. Beyond
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: them was the waterhole in the yellow veldtland. Above was
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: the hot sun.
• 28:48
  Speaker 9: Dr.
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: McLean saw at a distance the lions fighting and clawing,
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: and then settling down to feed in silence under the
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: shady trees.
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: Hi, kids.
• 29:00
  Speaker 4: Where are your mom and dad? Oh, they'll be here directly.
• 29:05
  Speaker 5: Good.
• 29:05
  Speaker 9: Good.
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: We've got to get going.
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: He squinted at the lions with his hands up to
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: his eyes. Now they were done feeding.
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: They moved to the waterhole to drink.
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: A shadow flickered as the vultures dropped down from the
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: blazing sky to finish what the lions had left. Dr.
• 29:26
  Speaker 8: McClane. Dr.
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: McClane. Huh? What? What? Have a cup of tea?
• 29:32
  Speaker 10: You've just heard another adventure into the unknown world of
• 29:42
  Speaker 10: the future. The world of.
• 29:46
  Speaker 4: Dimension X.
• 29:48
  Speaker 10: Dimension X.
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: How soon we actually build a spaceship to conquer the
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: stars depends upon many factors, not the least of which
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: is a man, the overwhelming desire to create such a
• 30:11
  Speaker 3: ship and the power to have it done. Next week,
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: we tell the story of such a man as Dimension
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: X brings you Nelson Bond's.
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: The Vital Factor.
• 30:25
  Speaker 11: Dimension X is presented transcribed each week by the National
• 30:28
  Speaker 11: Broadcasting Company in cooperation with Street and Smith, publishers of
• 30:32
  Speaker 11: the magazine Astounding Science Fiction. Today, Dimension X has presented
• 30:36
  Speaker 11: The Veldt, written for radio by Ernest Canoy.
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: From Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man.
• 30:41
  Speaker 11: Included in the cast were Leslie Woods and Bill Quinn
• 30:44
  Speaker 11: as the parents, Joan Lazor and David Anderson as the children.
• 30:46
  Speaker 11: Your host was Norman Rose. Music by Albert Berman. Dimension
• 30:51
  Speaker 11: X is produced by William Welch and directed.
• 30:53
  Speaker 4: By Fred Way.
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: You have heard Dimension X, episode 43, Veldt. Good night,
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: and thank you for joining us.