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Cbs Radio Workshop - "Space Merchants Part 1" (1957) · Old Time Sci-Fi Radio | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Mitchell Courtney, a copywriter for the powerful Fowler-Shokken advertising organization,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: is assigned to sell the colonization of Venus. CBS Radio
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Workshop brings us the first half of Space Merchants Part 1,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Episode 55, originally broadcast February 17, 1957. Charles Monroe adapted
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: the program for radio from the novel by Frederick Pohl
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: and C.M. Kornbluth, with Stotz Cotsworth as Courtney and Virginia
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Kaye as Kathy. Paul Roberts directed and produced this CBS
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: presentation set on a future Earth where advertising interests hold
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: enormous power.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: And now, our story begins.
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: The CBS radio workshop dedicated to man's imagination, the theater
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: of the mind. Today, the space merchants. Frederick Poles and C.M.
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: Kornbluth's modern classic about the future when the wizards of
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: high-pressure salesmanship take over. It's the story of Mitchell Courtney,
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: a copysmith, star class with Fowler Shock and Associates, the
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: biggest and greatest advertising firm of the future, and a
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: tale of a rocket ride to Venus.
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: ¶ ¶.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: As I rubbed depilatory soap on my face and waited
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: for my beard to melt away, I switched on the
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: news over the bathroom mirror. A funny little man whom
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: I finally recognized as the president had given another speech
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: last night. It was a shot of the Venus rocket
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: squatting silvery on the Arizona sands. A report of rioting
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: in Panama, the Kansi underground probably. Then the phone rang.
• 2:35
  Speaker 5: Hello.
• 2:35
  Speaker 6: Chief, you're due at the office.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: Can't you see I'm dressing?
• 2:38
  Speaker 6: Oof, why that tie?
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: Never mind.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: Why are you phoning me? Mr.
• 2:42
  Speaker 6: Shockins called a board meeting a half an hour early.
• 2:45
  Speaker 6: He's going to name the head of the Venus Project today,
• 2:47
  Speaker 6: so hurry.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Uh, Hester, do me a favor. Will you call my wife, Dr. Nevin?
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: Make an appointment at noon for Walter J. Silver.
• 2:54
  Speaker 7: For who?
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: Walter J.
• 2:56
  Speaker 7: Silver.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: Are you crazy? Well, she won't talk to me, Hester.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: Use the fake name. Maybe I can get in.
• 3:01
  Speaker 7: All right.
• 3:01
  Speaker 6: Now get down here fast.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: Down on Fifth Avenue, there wasn't a pedicab in sight.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: For a moment, I thought I had a Cadillac with
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: two men peddling it, but somebody else got it. I
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: did the best I could. I hopped aboard the rolling
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: northbound sidewalk and found myself hemmed in by a milling,
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: perspiring group of consumers. I got off at Shockin' Towers
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: and rode the express elevator to our offices on the
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: 182nd floor. By sheer luck, I'd just taken my seat
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: with my fellow board members when Fowler Shockin' walked in.
• 3:51
  Speaker 8: Gentlemen, good morning.
• 3:53
  Speaker 7: Good morning, Mr.
• 3:55
  Speaker 8: Shockin'. Now, sit down, sit down. I'm going to stand
• 3:58
  Speaker 8: for a moment. I've just come back on the moon rocket,
• 4:00
  Speaker 8: as you know.
• 4:01
  Speaker 7: I want to stretch my legs. How is our project
• 4:04
  Speaker 7: on the moon, Mr.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: Shotkin?
• 4:06
  Speaker 8: Gentlemen, I'm proud and I'm humble when I say it's successful.
• 4:11
  Speaker 8: The mining ventures are bringing the people here on Earth
• 4:13
  Speaker 8: many of the metals our forefathers exhausted long ago. The
• 4:16
  Speaker 8: colonists seem quite untouched by the Kansi revolutionists. Only six
• 4:20
  Speaker 8: instances of Kansi sabotage in the past week. Thank you.
• 4:26
  Speaker 8: Now I'd like to hear some reports on our other projects.
• 4:29
  Speaker 8: Industrial anthropology....
• 4:32
  Speaker 9: Well, I wish to report that according to the Midnight Indices,
• 4:34
  Speaker 9: all primary schools east of the Mississippi are being fed
• 4:37
  Speaker 9: our Fowler Shockin' Packaged School Lunches, Soy Burger, and Regenerated Steak. Now,
• 4:44
  Speaker 9: these lunches are being packaged in our Starzalius Red, which
• 4:47
  Speaker 9: means that in the future, these young consumers will be
• 4:49
  Speaker 9: completely conditioned to buying everything packaged in our special color,
• 4:52
  Speaker 9: Starzalius Red.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: They'll have no choice.
• 4:55
  Speaker 7: Magnificent, magnificent.
• 4:58
  Speaker 8: Now, let's hear from Point of Sale.
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: Well, Mr.
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: Shocken, sir, we have tested our latest beverage, Coffeeist, in
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: 15 key cities. Each sample of Coffeeist contains three milligrams
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: of a simple alkaloid. Nothing harmful, but definitely habit-forming. After
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: ten weeks, the customer is hooked for life. A cure
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: will cost $ 1, 000, so it's easier to buy more Coffeeist.
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: Three cups with every meal and a hot jug beside
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: the bed at night.
• 5:27
  Speaker 8: You know, gentlemen, on my trip back from the moon,
• 5:30
  Speaker 8: I began to wonder, are we getting soft?
• 5:33
  Speaker 7: No, sir, Mr. Shockin.
• 5:36
  Speaker 8: Thank you, Matt. But I wonder, were we doing enough
• 5:39
  Speaker 8: for our consumers? Those consumers sleeping out there on the stairways.
• 5:43
  Speaker 8: I know how lucky they are being able to buy
• 5:45
  Speaker 8: the wonderful goods we make, package and sell them. Seaweed suits,
• 5:50
  Speaker 8: soya burger, regenerated steak, coffees, straw butt cigarettes... But I
• 5:55
  Speaker 8: still wondered, were we in the upper classes of advertising
• 5:58
  Speaker 8: getting soft? But now I've decided Fowler Shock and Associates
• 6:03
  Speaker 8: is not soft. That it's ready to meet a challenge
• 6:07
  Speaker 8: greater than our organizing India into one giant cartel. Greater
• 6:11
  Speaker 8: than our development of the moon. The greatest challenge the
• 6:13
  Speaker 8: world of advertising and promotion has ever met. The colonizing
• 6:17
  Speaker 8: of Venus.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: The shock and sense of the dramatic was never better.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: A touch of a button on the conference table before him,
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: the lights were dimmed. Another touch of a button, and
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: one wall of the room became a giant projection screen.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: We are looking at it again. The Venus rocket. But
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: this time we knew that one of us would be
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: named to head the Venus project.
• 6:57
  Speaker 8: There she stands, gentlemen, the Venus rocket, a thousand-foot monster,
• 7:02
  Speaker 8: surrounded now by steel scaffolding and a glow with welding torches.
• 7:06
  Speaker 8: And here's how you'll see her six months from now,
• 7:08
  Speaker 8: just before the takeoff. Just before the takeoff, there's the
• 7:17
  Speaker 8: ship that Congress gave us, Fowler Shock and Associates. There's
• 7:21
  Speaker 8: the ship that will span.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: The stars, six and a half million tons of trapped lightning.
• 7:25
  Speaker 8: And steel, a rocket-powered Mayflower for 1,800 pioneers seeking a new.
• 7:30
  Speaker 7: World to settle. Who will man it?
• 7:34
  Speaker 8: Gentlemen, it's our job, A, to justify my buying enough
• 7:39
  Speaker 8: congressmen to vote us that rocket. B, to sell 1,800
• 7:42
  Speaker 8: crazy consumers on giving up life on the Earth for
• 7:45
  Speaker 8: the sulfur and nitrogen and canned life on Venus.
• 7:48
  Speaker 7: Yes, sir, Mr.
• 7:49
  Speaker 8: Sharkin.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: Yes, sir.
• 7:51
  Speaker 8: I've made my choice of the man to head up
• 7:54
  Speaker 8: our Venus rocket project. His name is Mitchell Courtney.
• 8:04
  Speaker 7: Congratulations, Madge.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: Thanks, Matt.
• 8:07
  Speaker 7: Terrific break for a young and experienced guy.
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: Yes, I'm flattered.
• 8:11
  Speaker 7: Fowler seemed to be sure he knew what he was doing.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: He seemed to be sure.
• 8:15
  Speaker 7: Drop into my office any time you need advice.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: Thanks. I'll keep my back to the wall.
• 8:21
  Speaker 7: Good luck with Venus Project, Mitch.
• 8:24
  Speaker 10: As far as I'm concerned, you can't sell people on
• 8:26
  Speaker 10: life in a sardine can, even if you throw in
• 8:29
  Speaker 10: a slave girl as a premium.
• 8:44
  Speaker 7: This way, Mr. Silver.
• 8:45
  Speaker 10: Dr.
• 8:46
  Speaker 6: Nevins will see you now.
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: Dr.
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: Nevins?
• 8:51
  Speaker 8: Mitch.
• 8:52
  Speaker 6: Mitch, how did you get in?
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: I used another name. I had to see you, Kathy.
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: After all, you're my wife.
• 8:57
  Speaker 6: I am not your wife.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: My certificate's on fire.
• 9:00
  Speaker 6: Mine isn't. It never will be. As soon as this
• 9:04
  Speaker 6: year is up, we're through.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: Ah, wait. I've got some news.
• 9:08
  Speaker 10: Well?
• 9:09
  Speaker 6: What is it?
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: I've been put in charge of the Venus Project at
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: the agency.
• 9:13
  Speaker 6: Congratulations.
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: Oh, Kathy, I love you. I'm not above using this
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: promotion as an excuse to celebrate. Won't you go out
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: on the town with me tonight?
• 9:24
  Speaker 8: No.
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: Well, I promised not to make a scene. You're the
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: only one I want to celebrate with.
• 9:31
  Speaker 6: All right, Mitch. My apartment at seven. And now let
• 9:35
  Speaker 6: me take care of the sick people.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: Outside Kathy's office, I hailed a two-man Cadillac pedicab and
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: told them to step on it to shock in Towers.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: I took the express elevator to the top of the towers.
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: I ran across the heliport to Shockin's private helicopter. I
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: had a very important date out of New York's newest
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: airport at Montauk. I was due to meet the Earth's
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: number one celebrity, Jack O'Shea, the first and only man
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: who would ever set a rocket down on Venus and return.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: As I landed, his jet was just coming in. And
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: as I jumped to the ground, his jet moved up
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: the runway toward me, and the place was crawling with women.
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: I'd forgotten what a swath Jack had cut with the
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: women on his cross-country lecture tours. In fact, I'd almost
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: forgotten until his Pinkerton cards cleared away through the vast crowds.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: I'd almost forgotten that Jack was a midget. Welcome to
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: New York, Jack. Hello, Mitch. I hear you're number one
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: boy now. Well, I still work for Fowler Shark and Jack,
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: but the Venus Rocket Project is mine.
• 11:12
  Speaker 10: You're a fool to take it.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: Oh, you're joking.
• 11:15
  Speaker 7: Am I? All right, fellas. Mr.
• 11:18
  Speaker 10: Courtney's from Fowler's Shock, and you can check off now.
• 11:21
  Speaker 7: Yes, sir, Mr. O'Shea.
• 11:25
  Speaker 10: Crummy guards. I never get a free moment.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: Well, that's the penalty for being a celebrity. This way, Jack.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: Our helicopter's over here.
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: Hey.
• 11:33
  Speaker 10: Hey, look out, Mitch.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: That cargo ship.
• 11:34
  Speaker 7: Darn fool. Pilots.
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: Run, Mitch. Run.
• 11:37
  Speaker 8: Run.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: Hey, Mitch. Mitch, you all right? Yes, I'm okay.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: Thanks.
• 11:48
  Speaker 7: Thanks a lot.
• 11:49
  Speaker 10: Mitch, that was no accident. That pilot had orders to
• 11:53
  Speaker 10: get one of us. And I think it was you.
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: The End I had to start pumping Jack O'Shea about Venus.
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: Shocken was paying him a fat retaining fee as a consultant.
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: Jack didn't seem to want to talk, however. I showed
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: him projections, maps, drawings, charts. But he barely said a
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: word worth recording on tape. Suddenly an idea hit me.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: I made a phone call.
• 12:41
  Speaker 10: Oh, Kathy. Kathy, do you know that this is the
• 12:45
  Speaker 10: first time I've laughed, really laughed, since I came back
• 12:49
  Speaker 10: to Earth?
• 12:49
  Speaker 6: Is it, Jack? I'm complimented.
• 12:52
  Speaker 10: And that this is the first time I've been alone
• 12:55
  Speaker 10: with two people since I came back?
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: I thought you'd had enough of being alone in that
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: rocket on Venus.
• 13:02
  Speaker 6: It must have been a shattering experience, Jack.
• 13:06
  Speaker 10: Kathy.
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: Kathy.
• 13:07
  Speaker 10: You're the first person who seems to have understood that.
• 13:12
  Speaker 10: Not exciting. Not thrilling.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: It was frightening.
• 13:18
  Speaker 10: Shattering, as you said. It wasn't at all like what
• 13:27
  Speaker 10: I've told the women's clubs, the reporters. That's been a
• 13:30
  Speaker 10: pack of lies. The atmosphere, for instance. It's really formaldehyde.
• 13:38
  Speaker 10: Embalming fluid. Who'd understand that except the dead? And the heat,
• 13:48
  Speaker 10: who'd understand that? Who's lived in heat above the boiling
• 13:51
  Speaker 10: point of water? If there was any water on Venus,
• 13:55
  Speaker 10: which there isn't.
• 14:10
  Speaker 6: Why did you go, Jack?
• 14:12
  Speaker 10: That's easy. You're a doctor. You know about midgets. We
• 14:19
  Speaker 10: eat one-third the food, drink one-third the liquids, inhale and
• 14:23
  Speaker 10: exhale one-third the air full-size humans require. They'd never have
• 14:28
  Speaker 10: gotten that test rocket to Venus if I hadn't been
• 14:30
  Speaker 10: the size I am, if I hadn't been a child
• 14:33
  Speaker 10: who's been laughed at, who'd turned test pilot to prove myself. Ha!
• 14:40
  Speaker 10: I was so small they could pack me into that
• 14:42
  Speaker 10: test rocket with all the equipment necessary to sustain me.
• 14:46
  Speaker 10: 83 days. It takes a lot of equipment to sustain
• 14:50
  Speaker 10: even a midget.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: Six of those days were on Venus. What was it like, Jack?
• 14:59
  Speaker 10: I think the closest thing on Earth is the Painted Desert.
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: The wind blows hard.
• 15:08
  Speaker 10: It tears rocks apart. Soft rocks disappear and make dust storms.
• 15:12
  Speaker 10: The light is funny. Nobody ever saw a light like
• 15:17
  Speaker 10: that on Earth. Orangey, brownish light. Very, very bright, but threatening.
• 15:25
  Speaker 10: And there's no water on Venus. No vegetation. No living thing.
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: In the quiet of Kathy's apartment, Jack O'Shea talked for
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: another hour. Then suddenly, with hardly a word of goodbye,
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: he stood up and walked out. Thanks, Kathy. Thanks for
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: changing plans and letting me bring him.
• 15:58
  Speaker 6: Don't mention it, Mitch. Do you think you got it
• 16:02
  Speaker 6: all on your little tape recorder?
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: You knew I had one in my pocket.
• 16:06
  Speaker 6: I was sure you would have. And I hope you
• 16:09
  Speaker 6: play it back to yourself over and over and over.
• 16:12
  Speaker 7: Oh, Kathy.
• 16:13
  Speaker 6: Yes, over and over and over. Until even you were
• 16:16
  Speaker 6: convinced how hopeless your Venus Project is.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: Hopeless? Oh, our science boys have answers to all those objections.
• 16:23
  Speaker 8: Mitch.
• 16:24
  Speaker 6: Mitch, doesn't that mind of yours ever stop selling somebody something?
• 16:29
  Speaker 6: Do you have to be a contriving, selfish Machiavelli who
• 16:33
  Speaker 6: serves Fowler, Schocken.
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: And never people?
• 16:35
  Speaker 7: People?
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: You mean consumers.
• 16:37
  Speaker 6: Mitch, must you always be top dog, making money, money,
• 16:41
  Speaker 6: money without scruples, without ethics? What was that?
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: A gunshot.
• 16:47
  Speaker 6: Jack's out there.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: I'll go and see.
• 16:50
  Speaker 7: Oh, he's all right.
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: Those are his steps.
• 16:52
  Speaker 10: Mitch, Mitch, I was standing talking with a doorman and
• 16:55
  Speaker 10: someone shot him in cold blood. Someone thought that doorman
• 17:00
  Speaker 10: was you. Oh.
• 17:16
  Speaker 8: Well, Mitch, trouble with the Venus project already?
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: Personal trouble, Mr. Shocken.
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: Personal trouble?
• 17:22
  Speaker 8: Yes.
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: Yesterday afternoon, a cargo helicopter tried to drop its full
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: load on me, and last night, somebody tried to shoot me.
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: I've had a couple of head-on collisions with Matt Runstead.
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: Are you accusing a Shocken man?
• 17:33
  Speaker 7: That's treason.
• 17:35
  Speaker 8: Killing an agency employee is an offense against the United
• 17:37
  Speaker 8: States government. Any idea who's behind this?
• 17:39
  Speaker 7: No.
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: It might be the Conceys, of course.
• 17:42
  Speaker 8: Well, conservationists hate us. They try to sabotage everything we
• 17:45
  Speaker 8: want to do, but Crazy, mixed up, unorganized. They want
• 17:49
  Speaker 8: to go back to the old days when we had
• 17:50
  Speaker 8: natural wood, natural water, all that sort of claptrap. Forget them.
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: Well, it could be another advertising agency.
• 17:56
  Speaker 8: It could be. But look, Mitch, I made you copysmith,
• 18:00
  Speaker 8: star class, because I thought you could live up to
• 18:02
  Speaker 8: your responsibilities. Now, you're young, but you have power. Five
• 18:06
  Speaker 8: words from you, and a few months later, half a
• 18:08
  Speaker 8: billion consumers will find their lives completely changed.
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: That's power.
• 18:12
  Speaker 8: Absolute power. So you must remember, power has its compensations.
• 18:16
  Speaker 8: And it's hazards. That's all.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: With this encouragement, I continued work on the Venus Project
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: for the next six weeks. I even talked Kathy into
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: giving up her patience for 48 hours and taking a
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: flying trip with me to Arizona. I wanted to get
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: the feel of the giant rocket itself as it was
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: being built.
• 18:47
  Speaker 5: Your credentials, please. Army intelligence, check. Navy intelligence, check. Air
• 18:54
  Speaker 5: Force intelligence, check. FBI, check.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: AEC, check. CIA, check. 4As, check.
• 19:01
  Speaker 5: I hope you two are all right.
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: This way, please. Kathy and I followed the security officer...
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: into the vast steel shell of the Venus rocket.
• 19:15
  Speaker 7: Well, 157 feet high.
• 19:18
  Speaker 5: More cupids than the average New York apartment building.
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: He took us into the dormitories for the 1,800 pilgrims
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: I had to sell on the idea of going to Venus.
• 19:30
  Speaker 5: Low-cycle food, water, and air regeneration. One-third living space, one-third drive,
• 19:36
  Speaker 5: one-third freight.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: It was an inferno and a promise of paradise. A
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: monument to 22nd century engineering and an incomparable monument to
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: the future. to the sheer artistry of the machine.
• 19:59
  Speaker 6: Mitch, do you always have to talk like a coppysmith?
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: Well, I noticed you were impressed too, Kathy.
• 20:07
  Speaker 6: Well, it draws me. And repels me. I can't explain it.
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: It excites me. Kathy, how would you like to go
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: on to San Diego with me?
• 20:17
  Speaker 6: Whatever for?
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: Well, Matt Runstead's boys in our San Diego office have
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: been gathering test figures on our sample colonizing campaigns. Very helpful.
• 20:25
  Speaker 6: No, I can't come, Mitch. I'd love to, but my
• 20:30
  Speaker 6: patients back in New York need me.
• 20:32
  Speaker 10: Oh.
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: Well, then I'll get you aboard the return jet and
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: see you in New York in 48 hours. I didn't
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: tell them I was coming to San Diego. I walked
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: in on our entire San Diego staff playing push-button poker.
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: What's the meaning of this? Who are you, mister? Mitchell Courtney.
• 21:11
  Speaker 7: It's Courtney from New York, fellas.
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: What are the reports on the Venus sampling, Harris?
• 21:18
  Speaker 7: There aren't any, sir.
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: Tally sheets, punch card codes, sigma progress charts? Nothing on
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: the attitudes of consumers toward life on Venus? Well, nothing, sir.
• 21:26
  Speaker 7: Nothing.
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: You've made up everything you've given me so far. Well,
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: I'm afraid so, sir. Well, get New York on the line.
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: I want Matt Runstead. Well, he's not there. Well, where
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: is he? Well, he called this morning.
• 21:35
  Speaker 7: He's taken off for Little America to look after our
• 21:37
  Speaker 7: interests there.
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: And left you holding the bag, huh? Find out when
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: the next jet leaves for Little America. Little America is
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: a dollar trap for the tourists of the world, conceived
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: and promoted by Fowler Shocking. A clerk at our hotel
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: told me Runstead had checked in for a two-day tour
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: of the Stars Alias Glacier They already had started out
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: on the trail. I rented the glacier equipment, Antarctic coveralls, hood, gloves, boots,
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: and power pack to warm them. On my back, I
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: had an EDF that went beep, beep when I was
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: on the trail, and beep, beep when I lost my
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: way in the snow. I set out after Runstead, beeping
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: and still mad. I stopped after a while. and cooked
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: a meal in my electric pocket. It wasn't bad. Well,
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: very bad. I had some coffee to pep me up,
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: and then I set out again. My feet hit a drift,
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: and I stumbled. The wind was blowing stronger now. The
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: snow flurries were more frequent. I must have gone on
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: another hour. How far in distance, I don't know. Then
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: up ahead, I saw the figure of a man.
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: Matt!
• 23:07
  Speaker 8: Matt!
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: Matt Brunstedt!
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: Mitch!
• 23:12
  Speaker 7: Mitch Courtney! Matt, I've been following you!
• 23:14
  Speaker 10: Mitch!
• 23:15
  Speaker 7: What do you want with me, Mitch?
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: I want to know what happened in the San Diego office!
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: What are you up to, Matt? A sudden blast of
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: wind hurled snow into my face, and then, as it cleared,
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: I saw Matt raising his skis high above his head.
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: I saw them coming down toward me as he poleaxed me.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: The CBS Radio Workshop has brought you part one of
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: The Space.
• 23:49
  Speaker 9: Merchants, adapted for radio by Charles Monroe.
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: With original music composed and conducted by Samuel Matlowski, produced
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: and directed in New York by Paul Roberts. Stotz Cotsworth
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: starred as Mitch Courtney, Virginia Kaye as Kathy. Others in
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: today's cast were Bob Dryden, Ed Prentiss, Mary Patton, Bob Reddick,
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: Joe Julian, Ralph Bell, Ian Martin, and Joe Helgeson. The
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: sound effects were devised by Tom Buchanan and Tom Perkins,
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: the engineer Jack Katz. This is Ted Pearson inviting you
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: to join us next week for the second part of
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: the CBS Radio Workshop production of The Space Merchants. America
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: listens most to the CBS radio network.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: This was CBS Radio Workshop with Part 1 of Space
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: Merchants Part 1. Good evening and thank you for joining us.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: Follow Old Time Sci-Fi Radio for more classic science fiction broadcasts.