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Dimension X - "The Green Hills of Earth" (1950) · Old Time Sci-Fi Radio | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: On December 24th, 1950, NBC aired Dimension X, Episode 32,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: The Green Hills of Earth. Adapted for radio by Ernest
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Kenoy from a Robert A. Heinlein short story, it follows Riesling,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: a radiation-blinded spaceman known as the singing poet of the spaceways.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Traveling through the future solar system, he carries the songs
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: and memories of working space travelers as he joins a
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: final rocket voyage. Tom Glazer performs the songs in a
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: production directed by Edward King and produced by William Welch.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: And now, the original broadcast.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: We present now a special transcribed Christmas message from the
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: President of the United States to the American people.
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: My fellow countrymen, all over our country and in many
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: other parts of the world, men, women, and children are
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: preparing to celebrate the birthday of Christ. Never before in
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: our lives has a Christmas seemed so important. I'm not
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: thinking of turkey dinners and stacks of gifts. I mean
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  Speaker 3: the quiet, reverent celebration of faith, hope, and love born
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: in a manger in Bethlehem. Across all the continents of
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: this world, peace-loving people today feel apprehension and loneliness and fear.
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: Many have forgotten the humble surroundings of the nativity and
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: how from a straw-littered stable shone a light which for
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: nearly 20 centuries has given men strength, comfort, and peace,
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: peace of mind. At this Christmas time, we should renew
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: our faith in God We celebrate the hour in which
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: God came to man. It is fitting that we should
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: turn to him. Many of us are fortunate enough to
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: celebrate Christmas at our own fireside. But there are many
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: others who are away from their homes and loved ones
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: on this day. Thousands of our boys are on the
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: cold and dreary battlefield of Korea. But all of us,
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: at home, at war, wherever we may be, are within
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: reach of God's love and power. We can all pray.
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: All of us should pray. We should ask the fulfillment
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: of God's will. We should ask for courage, for wisdom,
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: for the quietness of soul which comes alone to them who.
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: Place their lives in his hands.
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: We should pray for a peace which is based on righteousness.
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: The nation already is in the midst of a crusade
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: of prayers. On the last Sunday of the old year,
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: there will be special services devoted to a revival of
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  Speaker 3: faith in God. I call upon all of you to
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: enlist in this common cause. I call upon you no
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: matter what your spiritual allegiance may be. We're all joined
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: in the fight against the tyranny of communism. Communism is godless.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: Democracy is the foundation of faith. Faith in oneself Faith
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: in one's neighbors, faith in God. Democracy's most powerful weapon is.
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  Speaker 5: Not a gun, a tank, or a bomb.
• 3:23
  Speaker 6: It is faith.
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: Faith in the brotherhood and dignity of man under God.
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: Let us pray at this Christmas time for the wisdom,
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: the humility, and the courage to carry on in this faith.
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: Ladies and gentlemen, you have just heard President Truman's Christmas
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: message to the American people. This is NBC, the National
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: Broadcasting Company.
• 3:55
  Speaker 6: In answer to many thousands of requests from its listeners,
• 3:59
  Speaker 6: the National Broadcasting Company is happy to bring.
• 4:01
  Speaker 7: You Adventures in Time and Space, transcribed in future tense.
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: Dimension X-X.
• 4:16
  Speaker 8: This is the story of Riesling, the singer of the spaceways.
• 4:21
  Speaker 8: You've probably sung his songs in school, in English, French,
• 4:25
  Speaker 8: or German. The language doesn't matter, but it was an
• 4:28
  Speaker 8: earth tongue. But the real story of Riesling is not
• 4:32
  Speaker 8: found in the footnotes of a scholar's critique or a
• 4:35
  Speaker 8: publisher's biography. It is in the memories of the old-time spacemen,
• 4:40
  Speaker 8: the pioneers who pushed the thundering old-fashioned rockets to the far,
• 4:44
  Speaker 8: strange ports that are our commonplace heritage. These men know
• 4:49
  Speaker 8: the true story of Riesling.
• 4:52
  Speaker 9: The arching sky is calling spacemen back to their trade. Oh,
• 5:01
  Speaker 9: and stand by free, falling and the lights below us
• 5:06
  Speaker 9: fade Out ride the sons of terror.
• 5:15
  Speaker 10: Far drives the thundering jet, up leaps the race of
• 5:22
  Speaker 10: earth men, out.
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  Speaker 4: Far and wide.
• 5:36
  Speaker 11: When I first met Riesling, he was hustling drinks in
• 5:40
  Speaker 11: the Twin Moons bar at Drywater Mars. He'd won a
• 5:43
  Speaker 11: guitar off a Chinese barkeep at Luna City by cheating
• 5:47
  Speaker 11: at one thumb, and he made his whiskey by singing
• 5:49
  Speaker 11: in the bar and passing the hat.
• 5:53
  Speaker 5: Listen to her, Hudson.
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: Don't she strum pretty? Like a 16-year-old gal.
• 5:57
  Speaker 5: Say, how much did you collect on that last song?
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: Three dollars, Marshal, and a slug. Al grabbed it from
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: a bill. He don't trust me no more. Funny, never
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: did have no luck with hound dogs nor Martian barking.
• 6:10
  Speaker 11: Hey, Riesling, look over there by the bar. There's an
• 6:12
  Speaker 11: Institute four-striper giving.
• 6:14
  Speaker 7: You the eye.
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: Know him? Captain Hicks off the goshawk.
• 6:18
  Speaker 5: They sure are giving you the once-over.
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: Maybe he's got a job.
• 6:22
  Speaker 12: They don't make never no mind to me. I've been blacklisted.
• 6:26
  Speaker 12: Hicks logged me for making up a song on watch.
• 6:28
  Speaker 12: Right fine song, too.
• 6:30
  Speaker 7: Now, hold it.
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: Here comes the brass horn.
• 6:32
  Speaker 7: Reasoning, I've been looking for you.
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: I've been right here, Skipper. You saw to that.
• 6:36
  Speaker 7: I need a jet man on the goshawk.
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: Interesting. Real interesting.
• 6:40
  Speaker 7: Well?
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: I got news for you, Skipper. You blacklisted me, remember?
• 6:44
  Speaker 7: Well, you kept your nose clean. And we need an
• 6:47
  Speaker 7: experienced man.
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: Been a little changing down after the course, Huck, ain't there, Skipper?
• 6:55
  Speaker 7: How'd you know that?
• 6:55
  Speaker 12: You got that new atomic pile drive. Last three of
• 6:58
  Speaker 12: them tea kettles blew somewhere in the asteroids.
• 7:00
  Speaker 7: Look, it's double pay, but if you're scared... Scared?
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: Listen, fella.
• 7:05
  Speaker 12: For double pay, I'd jump off the top of the
• 7:07
  Speaker 12: Harriman Tower.
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: If you allowed me rubber heels for the landing.
• 7:10
  Speaker 7: All right, then. You show up tonight to sign the book. Sober.
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: Got no choice, Skipper. Money and me is total strangers.
• 7:17
  Speaker 7: We lift at 11.30 Mars time. Sober, you understand reasoning?
• 7:23
  Speaker 5: You taking the job?
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: Well, that goshawk is one stinking old tub.
• 7:27
  Speaker 12: Her engine's got more bugs than a beagle dog in spring.
• 7:31
  Speaker 12: And that new drive is about as safe as a
• 7:34
  Speaker 12: pretty gal in the Ozark.
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: But I reckon she'll do for one more trip.
• 7:39
  Speaker 13: The End.
• 7:51
  Speaker 7: Welcome home, Riesling.
• 7:52
  Speaker 14: Hi, Jimmy Legs.
• 7:53
  Speaker 12: Meet my friend Hertzman. He's signing on as a whopper.
• 7:57
  Speaker 12: This is Jimmy Legs Casey.
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: He's boasting.
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  Speaker 12: Can't hold his liquor no more than a sieve, poor boy. Riesling,
• 8:06
  Speaker 12: you sober enough to sign the book? Drunk or sober,
• 8:09
  Speaker 12: I'll make my mark.
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: Stand aside. Three X's?
• 8:14
  Speaker 7: Took me a middle name.
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: You two lay below. And Hertzman.
• 8:19
  Speaker 7: Aye, sir.
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: Get him sobered up before the skipper makes rounds. Jimmy Legs,
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: I'm sober as a hanging judge. Yeah? Well, you can
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: leave that bottle here. What bottle? The one in your
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: back pocket. Glass buttons, maybe. Give it here.
• 8:35
  Speaker 12: Jimmy Legs, I swear I'm going to write a song
• 8:38
  Speaker 12: about you.
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: Go ahead, threaten me. Now get below. We raise ship
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: in 30 minutes.
• 8:51
  Speaker 14: Hi, Skipper.
• 8:59
  Speaker 7: Riesling, what the devil are you doing up here on
• 9:01
  Speaker 7: the bridge without permission?
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: Figured I'd take a little stroll.
• 9:04
  Speaker 7: Riesling, get below before I.
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: Hold on, Skipper. You'll have that gold braid just crawling
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: up your arms. I'm up here on business.
• 9:12
  Speaker 11: Well?
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: That number two jet ain't fit. Cadmium dampers are warped.
• 9:15
  Speaker 7: Why tell me? Tell the chief engineer.
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: He says they'll hold.
• 9:19
  Speaker 11: Well?
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: He's wrong. He's wrong.
• 9:22
  Speaker 7: He's got a Harriman Institute degree in power electronics. And
• 9:25
  Speaker 7: some drunk space rat says he's wrong.
• 9:27
  Speaker 12: Skipper, I was damping jets when that shirt-tailed tad wore
• 9:30
  Speaker 12: pins for buttons.
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  Speaker 7: I've got no time for you, Riesling. Casey, sound takeoff. Aye, sir.
• 9:35
  Speaker 12: I'm telling you, Skipper, that number two jet's gonna blow.
• 9:38
  Speaker 12: Dampers walk crooked like a turtle's back.
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  Speaker 7: Riesling, drag your dead head out of here. Get below.
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: Go ahead from control tower, Captain.
• 9:46
  Speaker 7: All right, Casey. Fire one and four.
• 9:50
  Speaker 15: Hawkglass Thunder had to blast for three watches before going
• 10:04
  Speaker 15: into free flight.
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  Speaker 11: Riesling and I had the second watch. Damping was done
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  Speaker 11: by hand in those days with a multiplying vernier and.
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  Speaker 4: A danger peeper.
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  Speaker 11: And as long as the peeper ticked off slow and steady,
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  Speaker 11: we knew the ship was safe.
• 10:17
  Speaker 7: For a while.
• 10:20
  Speaker 5: Hey, Riesling, you better stow that guitar. If Jimmy Legs
• 10:22
  Speaker 5: catches it, he'll blow a gasket.
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: Don't worry, I can damp this tea kettle in my sleep.
• 10:27
  Speaker 5: How's number two?
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: All right, so far. Did you ever hear that song
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: about Hicks, the one that got me blacklisted?
• 10:35
  Speaker 9: Oh, the skipper is the father of his crew. A
• 10:39
  Speaker 9: gentle guide and light to me and you. But on
• 10:43
  Speaker 9: Mars he likes his women if they walk or if
• 10:46
  Speaker 9: they're swimming or if they've got six arms instead of two.
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: Hey, the second verse is better.
• 10:53
  Speaker 9: Now the skipper likes his liquor by the quart. Yes,
• 10:57
  Speaker 9: he'd go from Mars to Venus for a snort. He'll
• 11:01
  Speaker 9: drink rocket fuel and.
• 11:04
  Speaker 16: Well, hi, Skipper.
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: Didn't see you come in.
• 11:08
  Speaker 7: You were too busy, eh? Who's watching the gauge?
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: I got an eye on it. Don't you fret none.
• 11:15
  Speaker 7: Riesling, I'm going to fix it so you can't get
• 11:17
  Speaker 7: a berth on a rocket-powered pogo stick. Report the casing
• 11:20
  Speaker 7: under arrest.
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: I don't rightly think I will. You what? You kind
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: of forget, Skipper.
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  Speaker 12: According to space code, you can't remove a jetman till
• 11:28
  Speaker 12: the end.
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: Of the watch.
• 11:29
  Speaker 7: Right? Now, look, you corn-fed space water.
• 11:31
  Speaker 4: Now, is that a rule or ain't it?
• 11:33
  Speaker 7: Riesling... Your shift is over at 2300. And I'll see
• 11:37
  Speaker 7: you ride the rest of the way in slop locker.
• 11:39
  Speaker 17: Maybe.
• 11:40
  Speaker 15: Maybe.
• 11:41
  Speaker 12: In the meantime, you clear out of my power room.
• 11:43
  Speaker 12: I gotta make me up a third verse for my song.
• 11:57
  Speaker 7: I got it.
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: Power room.
• 11:59
  Speaker 7: Stamp number two, appoint.
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: Number two, all right. Hey, let me have that mic.
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: Jimmy Legs, is that forced dry boil up there?
• 12:07
  Speaker 7: Give me that, Casey. Riesling, I've taken just about enough
• 12:10
  Speaker 7: from you.
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: And I've got a little news for you, Skipper.
• 12:12
  Speaker 12: Number two jet is bulging like a fat lady in
• 12:15
  Speaker 12: a satin skirt.
• 12:16
  Speaker 14: Listen, you clown.
• 12:17
  Speaker 12: Skipper, I think I'm going to junk my song and
• 12:20
  Speaker 12: start over.
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: I could do much better on you.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: This is the last time, Riesling.
• 12:24
  Speaker 11: Damp number two, a point.
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: Why, sure.
• 12:28
  Speaker 7: Look out here.
• 12:29
  Speaker 13: I'll take it.
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: You watch the gauge.
• 12:31
  Speaker 15: All right.
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: Now. She's bucking a little.
• 12:38
  Speaker 13: Riesling, hit the emergency.
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: She won't hit him.
• 12:42
  Speaker 14: Back on the lights.
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: Back on the lights.
• 12:53
  Speaker 5: Please, please, please.
• 12:54
  Speaker 14: Stay down behind the baffle. I've got to take a look.
• 12:56
  Speaker 14: It's radioactive. Look out. I've got to piece the hot
• 12:59
  Speaker 14: stuff out of the tube.
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: What's going on down there? Shut up, Jimmy.
• 13:04
  Speaker 13: Legs are busy.
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: She's tight now.
• 13:10
  Speaker 8: What happened?
• 13:11
  Speaker 14: Number two blew your lunk-headed space rat.
• 13:13
  Speaker 17: You all right?
• 13:14
  Speaker 14: A little sunburn. The lights are gone. Hey, what's the
• 13:18
  Speaker 14: matter with the emergency circuits?
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: Riesling.
• 13:20
  Speaker 14: Jimmy Legs, get some lights down here. It's dark. Get
• 13:23
  Speaker 14: the emergency light on.
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: They're on, Riesling. They went on after the blast. The
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: lights are on. What are you talking about?
• 13:33
  Speaker 18: Jimmy Legs.
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: Jimmy Legs, turn on the lights. It's dark. Turn on
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: the lights.
• 13:41
  Speaker 13: Jimmy Legs.
• 13:48
  Speaker 11: That blue radioactive glow from the jets was the last
• 13:51
  Speaker 11: thing Riesling ever saw.
• 13:53
  Speaker 5: His optic nerve was burned out in an instant.
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: He was in.
• 13:58
  Speaker 11: Sickbay on the rest of the trip, and on the
• 14:00
  Speaker 11: swing back, we set Riesling down in.
• 14:02
  Speaker 5: A dry water mars. Look out for the cable, Riesling.
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: Thanks, Hertzman. Hey, Riesling! That you, Jimmy Legs? Hold up
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: a minute, will you? Oh, uh, Riesling.
• 14:19
  Speaker 12: Jimmy Legs, I promised I'd write a song about you,
• 14:22
  Speaker 12: didn't I?
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: Sure, Riesling, sure. Can't seem to sing like you used to. Look, Riesling,
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: the men up in the bridge feel kind of bad
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: about this. Yeah? Why didn't they think of that when
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: Riesling told them that damper was shot? Now, Hertzman, that's
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: all over.
• 14:36
  Speaker 5: Sure, sure, that's all forgotten. Riesling, let's get out of
• 14:40
  Speaker 5: the Twin Moons before I vomit.
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: Now, hold it, hold it. The skipper feels pretty bad
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: about the whole thing, Riesling. Kind of late for that,
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: Jimmy Leakes. Feeling sorry I don't hold no coin. The
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: boys passed the hat. The skipper kicked in half a
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: month's pay. Did he now?
• 14:58
  Speaker 18: Then on principle, I suppose I ought to tell him
• 15:00
  Speaker 18: to stuff it back up the jets.
• 15:03
  Speaker 4: But you can't buy no drinking whiskey on principle. I'll
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: take it. Here you are. I'll get it. I'll be
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: seeing you recently. Sure, Jimmy Leakes.
• 15:14
  Speaker 12: Sure.
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: Come on, Hertzman. Let's get that drink.
• 15:27
  Speaker 7: That was all.
• 15:29
  Speaker 11: Just another space bum who didn't have the good sense
• 15:31
  Speaker 11: to finish before his luck ran out. Well, Riesling holed
• 15:35
  Speaker 11: up at the Twin Moons till his money was gone.
• 15:37
  Speaker 11: Then he hooked a ride on a crawler over to Marsopolis.
• 15:41
  Speaker 11: It was a boom town then, with an industrial district
• 15:44
  Speaker 11: mushrooming between the Lesser and Grand Canals. I ran into
• 15:48
  Speaker 11: Riesling about two months later, playing his guitar on a
• 15:51
  Speaker 11: jetty that.
• 15:51
  Speaker 5: Ran out into the canal.
• 15:53
  Speaker 11: He had a dirty rag tied over his eyes with
• 15:56
  Speaker 11: a gentleman's knot, and his hat was on the wharf
• 15:58
  Speaker 11: beside him.
• 16:03
  Speaker 14: Riesling! Who's that?
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: Wait a minute.
• 16:06
  Speaker 15: Hertzman.
• 16:07
  Speaker 14: Yeah, how have you been?
• 16:08
  Speaker 15: Passable.
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: Say, is this a Venusian dime?
• 16:11
  Speaker 7: No, it's a slug.
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: I figured.
• 16:14
  Speaker 5: How's it going?
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: Singing again? Some. Working saloons, mostly.
• 16:18
  Speaker 18: I've been thinking some funny songs, Hertzman. The words come
• 16:21
  Speaker 18: out different than they used to. Come on along the
• 16:24
  Speaker 18: canal with me.
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: Sure.
• 16:26
  Speaker 7: Here, take my arm.
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: I know the way.
• 16:30
  Speaker 18: That's a funny thing, Hertzman. I figure I know it
• 16:33
  Speaker 18: better than other folks. Look back there, towards the city.
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: What do you see? Factory towers. Smell them from here.
• 16:43
  Speaker 18: But it don't seem that way to me. I remember
• 16:45
  Speaker 18: them old buildings. Old before Bible times on Earth. Thin
• 16:50
  Speaker 18: and graceful like the fairy palaces my Grammy used to
• 16:53
  Speaker 18: tell about down home in the hills.
• 16:54
  Speaker 5: They've torn them down now. Or else blocked them up
• 16:57
  Speaker 5: with cinder bricks.
• 16:58
  Speaker 18: Hertzman, when I stand out out here on the canal,
• 17:01
  Speaker 18: I can see it the way it used to be.
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: The water, ice blue with the stars shining up out
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: of it.
• 17:07
  Speaker 18: Way off there, the city with the towers sweeping up
• 17:10
  Speaker 18: like a bird flying off a tree.
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: I can see it.
• 17:13
  Speaker 5: It's the dirtiest stinkhole in the system.
• 17:16
  Speaker 4: Not always. Depends on how you see it.
• 17:21
  Speaker 13: Don't tire the race that raised the towers.
• 17:28
  Speaker 14: Forgotten are they.
• 17:35
  Speaker 13: Long gone the gods who shed the tears that lap
• 17:44
  Speaker 13: these crystal shores.
• 17:49
  Speaker 19: Slow beats the time-worn heart of Mars beneath this icy sky.
• 18:03
  Speaker 19: The thin air whispers voicelessly.
• 18:10
  Speaker 17: That all who live must die.
• 18:22
  Speaker 5: You make that up.
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: Why don't you go home, Riesling?
• 18:27
  Speaker 7: Home? Earth.
• 18:29
  Speaker 18: I've been thinking about that, Hertzman. When I was a
• 18:32
  Speaker 18: youngster down in the Ozarks, I used to climb a
• 18:34
  Speaker 18: big old oak tree my daddy had in the doyer.
• 18:37
  Speaker 18: You could see the hills for miles, green and cool.
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: I've been thinking about that. Why don't you go back then?
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: I couldn't see them hills no more now.
• 18:47
  Speaker 18: I couldn't stand to see black when I knew they
• 18:48
  Speaker 18: was lying all around me, cool and green in the sun.
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: I couldn't stand that.
• 18:53
  Speaker 16: Yeah.
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: Well, let's get back to town, Hertzman.
• 18:56
  Speaker 12: Today I made three and a half dollars mush, and
• 18:58
  Speaker 12: I'm all set to drink it down to four dong.
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: Come on!
• 19:11
  Speaker 5: I lost track of Riesling after that.
• 19:14
  Speaker 11: I shipped out on a slow freight of the Condor
• 19:16
  Speaker 11: class for Luna, and he hitchhiked a ride to Venusburg
• 19:19
  Speaker 11: on an oarship in a tri-planet run.
• 19:22
  Speaker 5: So he beat around the system.
• 19:25
  Speaker 11: Venusburg to Layport to Drywater to New Shanghai and back.
• 19:29
  Speaker 11: Any spaceport was his home, and no skipper had refused
• 19:33
  Speaker 11: to lift the extra mass of Riesling and his battered guitars.
• 19:37
  Speaker 11: He made up his songs, sitting out watchers down in
• 19:39
  Speaker 11: the power rooms with old shipmates, while the.
• 19:42
  Speaker 5: Monotonous beat of the jet shook the hull plates.
• 19:45
  Speaker 4: Hear the jets. Hear the jets.
• 19:48
  Speaker 7: Hear them snarl at your.
• 20:10
  Speaker 11: Little by little, his songs began to travel along the
• 20:13
  Speaker 11: spaceways ahead of him. Raw spaceman songs with titles like
• 20:18
  Speaker 11: Since the Pusher Met My Cousin and The Space Suit
• 20:21
  Speaker 11: Felt for Two.
• 20:23
  Speaker 5: But more and more, we began to hear a different
• 20:25
  Speaker 5: kind of song.
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: Strange, sad songs.
• 20:29
  Speaker 11: The ones you find printed in the centennial editions. Dark
• 20:34
  Speaker 11: Star Passing. Death Song of a Wood's Cove.
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: And then, finally.
• 20:40
  Speaker 5: The Green Hills of Earth. It grew for 20 years,
• 20:45
  Speaker 5: that song.
• 20:46
  Speaker 11: They say it started way back when Riesling was down
• 20:49
  Speaker 11: in the labor camps on Venus singing for the indentured men.
• 20:52
  Speaker 14: Now, if someone will kindly pass a bottle.
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: It is not much, Riesling.
• 20:57
  Speaker 16: Here.
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: It'll do. What is that stuff?
• 21:03
  Speaker 12: Tequila.
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: You cannot make him.
• 21:05
  Speaker 5: Good here on Venus.
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: What do you use? Scarab bush. Home it is.
• 21:11
  Speaker 7: Home, it is different.
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: Where are you from, son? Taxco, Mexico. That's a long
• 21:15
  Speaker 4: way from here.
• 21:17
  Speaker 7: Si, a long way.
• 21:20
  Speaker 4: How'd you come to sign on? The man comes out
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: of the village from the city, in the shining automobile,
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: very big. He says there is work.
• 21:29
  Speaker 18: You sign the paper for ten years and you work.
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: Work?
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: There is work here, all right.
• 21:37
  Speaker 12: Ten stinking hours in the jungle with machete.
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: I tell you, when I get home to Earth... Well,
• 21:42
  Speaker 4: you do, son.
• 21:45
  Speaker 7: What is the use? We aren't getting home.
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: You know how many men die out there in the
• 21:50
  Speaker 4: swamp today? Ten men. Ten!
• 21:54
  Speaker 7: What is the use?
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: My mother, she's dead.
• 21:59
  Speaker 7: My father don't care. A girl?
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: She says she wait.
• 22:05
  Speaker 7: I don't know.
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: Sure, son. You sing some more recently. We drink, you sing.
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: Maybe a new song, son. We rot in the molds of.
• 22:16
  Speaker 9: Venus We wretched, hurt-tainted bread Foul are her flooded jungles
• 22:28
  Speaker 9: A-crawlin' with unclean bed Let the.
• 22:34
  Speaker 4: What is the matter? Finish the song, Leasing.
• 22:37
  Speaker 7: I can't.
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: Can't yet. It just don't come. I'll finish it when
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: I go home. That's it.
• 22:43
  Speaker 12: When I go home to the hills. Now pass that bottle.
• 22:46
  Speaker 12: The dawn whistle don't blow for four hours.
• 22:54
  Speaker 11: That's where the Green Hill started. And I was there
• 22:58
  Speaker 11: when it was finished. It was 20 years after that.
• 23:02
  Speaker 11: And there wasn't a man flying around the beach... hadn't
• 23:04
  Speaker 11: heard of Riesling and his songs. He was getting old
• 23:08
  Speaker 11: now for a spaceman... He was a familiar figure through
• 23:12
  Speaker 11: the whole system. Tall, gaunt, and with that dirty bandage
• 23:17
  Speaker 11: tied across his blind eyes.
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: I was chief jetman then on the old Falcon.
• 23:22
  Speaker 11: We were cradled at Venus Alice Isles, scheduled for a
• 23:25
  Speaker 11: direct jump to Great Lakes, Illinois, on Earth.
• 23:28
  Speaker 5: I was taken in Dunnage when Reesley felt.
• 23:30
  Speaker 11: His way up the gangway and came through the line.
• 23:33
  Speaker 7: Riesling!
• 23:34
  Speaker 13: Who's that?
• 23:35
  Speaker 14: Mike Hertzman. Hertzman.
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: Hertzman.
• 23:37
  Speaker 5: Well, what are you doing on this old hog?
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: Figured I'd ride her back to Earth.
• 23:41
  Speaker 17: Earth?
• 23:43
  Speaker 11: Are you going home, Riesling? I thought you were never
• 23:46
  Speaker 11: going to make that run.
• 23:47
  Speaker 4: I've been hankering to set foot in the Ozarks again.
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: How about those hills? I've been singing about them so
• 23:53
  Speaker 4: long now, Hertzman. I got to finish the song.
• 23:57
  Speaker 12: I got to set foot in the dooryard and hear
• 23:59
  Speaker 12: the wind through that oak tree. About the last thing
• 24:02
  Speaker 12: I'll be doing. I've got to get home before... Riesling
• 24:05
  Speaker 12: has a new company policy. You see, Hertzman, I'm getting
• 24:09
  Speaker 12: just a little old.
• 24:10
  Speaker 5: Riesling, listen. No more deadhead rides.
• 24:14
  Speaker 7: The new codebook is in force.
• 24:15
  Speaker 4: I've seen codebooks come and go.
• 24:17
  Speaker 11: The skipper's one of them youngsters fresh out of Harriman
• 24:19
  Speaker 11: Institute cadet training.
• 24:21
  Speaker 4: He's liable to throw the book at you.
• 24:22
  Speaker 15: At me?
• 24:24
  Speaker 12: I've been around space as long as Halley's Comet and
• 24:26
  Speaker 12: Brewster's Ridge.
• 24:27
  Speaker 4: I'm going back to Earth, the cool green hills of Earth.
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: I'm going home.
• 24:32
  Speaker 14: All secured, Hertzman.
• 24:35
  Speaker 7: What are you doing here?
• 24:37
  Speaker 4: That's Riesling, Captain.
• 24:38
  Speaker 7: Riesling, huh?
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: I'm dragging it back to Earth, Captain. Not in this ship.
• 24:42
  Speaker 4: Hertzman has his man removed.
• 24:44
  Speaker 11: Funny thing, Captain, I sprained my shoulder suddenly.
• 24:48
  Speaker 4: Look, Skipper, you're a youngster. You're pretty new out here.
• 24:52
  Speaker 4: I'm going home. You don't know what that means to
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: an old man, going home. I can't take it. Against
• 24:56
  Speaker 4: the Harriman Code. Oh, now look, Skipper.
• 24:58
  Speaker 12: You can slide me by under the distressed spaceman's claws
• 25:01
  Speaker 12: in that code book.
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: Distressed spaceman, my eye.
• 25:03
  Speaker 5: You've been bumming around the system for 30 years.
• 25:05
  Speaker 15: Skipper.
• 25:09
  Speaker 4: You're making me do something I've never done for no
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: one before.
• 25:13
  Speaker 16: I'm an old man. An old blind man, and I
• 25:16
  Speaker 16: want to go home. I ain't never crawled in front
• 25:19
  Speaker 16: of a four-striper in my life, but... You've got to
• 25:22
  Speaker 16: let me drag home. The law says a man's got
• 25:25
  Speaker 16: a trip coming to him. You can stretch for a
• 25:28
  Speaker 16: poor old blind man, can't you? You've got to, Skipper.
• 25:32
  Speaker 7: All right, you old space rat. Keep out of the way.
• 25:36
  Speaker 11: I run an efficient ship, and I don't want any trouble.
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: No, sir, no trouble.
• 25:41
  Speaker 12: I'll just lay down in the power room. I'd kind
• 25:44
  Speaker 12: of like to be near the jets when they blast
• 25:46
  Speaker 12: off for Earth.
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: Sit down, Riesling. Take a load off your feet.
• 25:58
  Speaker 7: Thanks, Mac.
• 25:58
  Speaker 4: Stand by for left. Stand by. Best seat in the system.
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: Power room and an old hawk grass ship.
• 26:05
  Speaker 7: Power room, fire three.
• 26:07
  Speaker 15: Aye, sir.
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: The cool green hills of Earth. Still singing that, Riesling? Oh, some.
• 26:17
  Speaker 4: I changed her a little. Gonna finish her now, Mac.
• 26:20
  Speaker 4: Going home to finish her.
• 26:22
  Speaker 16: Yowl.
• 26:24
  Speaker 4: Have you seen those new automatic dampers, Riesling?
• 26:27
  Speaker 7: Don't have to do nothing but sit and watch.
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: Where's the peeper?
• 26:30
  Speaker 14: Turned off.
• 26:30
  Speaker 4: She's all automatic.
• 26:32
  Speaker 12: You have it soft nowadays. When I was twisting her tail,
• 26:35
  Speaker 12: he had to stay awake. You got an old hand
• 26:38
  Speaker 12: damping plates on?
• 26:39
  Speaker 14: All but the links.
• 26:40
  Speaker 7: I unshipped them.
• 26:41
  Speaker 4: They cover up the dials. You might need them. No,
• 26:44
  Speaker 4: the automatics handle everything.
• 26:46
  Speaker 14: Well, you're finally going home, Riesling, huh?
• 26:49
  Speaker 5: Won't seem the same out past the moon.
• 26:52
  Speaker 4: I've been waiting for this a long time, Mac. Gonna
• 26:55
  Speaker 4: be good to get home, I reckon.
• 26:57
  Speaker 9: The arching sky is calling spacemen back.
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: Mac! Mac, Mac, you all right?
• 27:06
  Speaker 14: I got the emergency.
• 27:10
  Speaker 4: The hand damper.
• 27:13
  Speaker 7: Square the links.
• 27:14
  Speaker 4: Hey, hey, you don't have to be on the wall here.
• 27:17
  Speaker 15: Something.
• 27:17
  Speaker 14: I got him.
• 27:18
  Speaker 13: Power room, what's the alarm?
• 27:20
  Speaker 4: Emergency squad coming in.
• 27:21
  Speaker 14: Stay out. The place is hot. Radiation blast.
• 27:24
  Speaker 4: Stay behind the baffle.
• 27:25
  Speaker 14: I got the link shift.
• 27:26
  Speaker 7: I can hand damper now.
• 27:28
  Speaker 8: What's going on in there?
• 27:29
  Speaker 14: I'm still in jet three. Is this McDougal?
• 27:32
  Speaker 4: McDougal is dead. This is Riesling on watch.
• 27:34
  Speaker 8: Riesling, get out of there. You'll kill yourself.
• 27:37
  Speaker 4: Don't worry, Skipper.
• 27:38
  Speaker 12: I know there's power room like inside of my shirt.
• 27:40
  Speaker 14: Somebody's got to damper.
• 27:41
  Speaker 5: Riesling, I'm sending in a crew.
• 27:43
  Speaker 17: No, no, no, no use.
• 27:44
  Speaker 4: The whole room will be hot for an hour and
• 27:46
  Speaker 4: the other jets won't hold.
• 27:48
  Speaker 14: Skipper, throw on the recording tape.
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: What?
• 27:51
  Speaker 14: Throw on the recording tape. I want to get something down.
• 27:53
  Speaker 4: Tape's on, Riesling.
• 27:55
  Speaker 14: Stop it, Riesling.
• 27:55
  Speaker 4: The radiation will burn you down.
• 27:57
  Speaker 14: Yeah, I reckon.
• 27:58
  Speaker 4: Yeah, pretty sharp sunburn.
• 28:01
  Speaker 14: Pick me out of here with a dog. Bury me
• 28:03
  Speaker 14: in a lead shield coffin.
• 28:07
  Speaker 7: Okay, Skipper.
• 28:08
  Speaker 4: She's clean. The radiation's getting brighter. I can almost see her.
• 28:14
  Speaker 4: Bright and rosy like the sun. Like the sun over
• 28:17
  Speaker 4: the hills down home.
• 28:20
  Speaker 14: I got my song figured right now.
• 28:23
  Speaker 4: Here it comes.
• 28:25
  Speaker 7: We pray for.
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: One last landing on.
• 28:33
  Speaker 6: The globe that gave us birth Let us rest our
• 28:40
  Speaker 6: eyes on the fleecy skies of the cool green hills
• 28:48
  Speaker 6: of Earth.
• 28:53
  Speaker 4: I can see him now. The hills. The sun. I
• 28:59
  Speaker 4: can see the sun. That's the way he died. Riesling.
• 29:08
  Speaker 5: The blind singer of the spaceways, singing of the home
• 29:12
  Speaker 5: he never reached, the cool green hills of Earth.
• 29:30
  Speaker 8: Next week, we bring you another story many of you
• 29:32
  Speaker 8: have requested that we repeat. It's the strange tale of
• 29:35
  Speaker 8: man's first visit to another planet and why he decides
• 29:39
  Speaker 8: that Mars.
• 29:40
  Speaker 4: is heaven.
• 29:44
  Speaker 6: Be with us at this same time next week for
• 29:47
  Speaker 6: another adventure into the.
• 29:48
  Speaker 4: Unknown world of.
• 29:51
  Speaker 4: Dimension.
• 29:55
  Speaker 5: This program was transcribed.
• 29:58
  Speaker 11: Now, Dynamic Tallulah Bankhead brings you The Big Show on NBC.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: That concludes Dimension X, The Green Hills of Earth. Until
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: the next broadcast from radio's science fiction era, good evening.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: Follow old-time sci-fi radio for more classic science fiction broadcasts.