Latest / Old Time Sci-Fi Radio | Old Time Radio / Dimension X - "The Professor Was a Thief" (1950)

Transcript

Dimension X - "The Professor Was a Thief" (1950) · Old Time Sci-Fi Radio | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: November 5th, 1950 brought NBC listeners the 28th broadcast of
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Dimension X. In New York City, city editor Pop Adabee
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: receives an extraordinary report from his reporter, Sweeney. Grant's tomb
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: has vanished. As other reports follow, a quiet, bookish man
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: named Hannibal Pertwee enters a newsroom already struggling to account.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: For what it has heard.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: This is The Professor Was a Thief, adapted for radio
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: by George Lefferts from L. Ron Hubbard's science fiction novelette
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: with Arthur Maitland, John Larkin, John Gibson, Joseph Julian, Ralph Bell,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: and Bob Hastings. And now, we return to the original broadcast.
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: Adventures in Time and Space Transcribed in future.
• 0:58
  Speaker 4: Dimensions!
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: Can you predict what will come in 100 years?
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: Or in 10? Or in the next minute?
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: Can you see beyond the known dimensions of time and space...
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: into the unknown, Dimension X. Today we tell you a
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: story of America's largest city, a story that began in
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: the bustling city of the New York Metropolitan State.
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: So it is, yes.
• 1:48
  Speaker 5: Sweeney?
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: Listen, Pop, give me a rewrite, quick.
• 1:50
  Speaker 5: I'll take it.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: Okay, now look.
• 1:52
  Speaker 6: Look on the other side drive, see?
• 1:53
  Speaker 5: So?
• 1:54
  Speaker 6: So, at 12.45 today, just three minutes ago, Grant's tomb disappeared.
• 1:58
  Speaker 5: His what?
• 1:59
  Speaker 6: I'm telling you, it disappeared.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: It's gone.
• 2:01
  Speaker 5: Listen, Sweeney, get yourself to a Turkish bath. Sober up.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: Pop, I swear I'm sober as a judge.
• 2:06
  Speaker 5: Listen to me, will you? Just a minute. Albert!
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: What's up, Pop?
• 2:10
  Speaker 5: Call the Honda's detective precinct. Find out if anything's been
• 2:13
  Speaker 5: reported missing.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: Like what?
• 2:15
  Speaker 5: Like Grant's tomb. Go on, make a snapper.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: Okay, Pop.
• 2:20
  Speaker 5: All right, Sweeney, now give it to me slow. This
• 2:22
  Speaker 5: better not be a gag.
• 2:24
  Speaker 7: No gag, partner.
• 2:25
  Speaker 6: Get it down. The traffic at the drive was at
• 2:27
  Speaker 6: its new number peak, and the benches and structure were
• 2:29
  Speaker 6: filled with happy.
• 2:30
  Speaker 7: Laughing people.
• 2:31
  Speaker 6: Then, without a warning, a rumble sounded in the alarm clock.
• 2:34
  Speaker 5: Hold it, Sweeney. Well, Albert, I don't get it. They
• 2:38
  Speaker 5: say that... That, that Grant's tomb is gone. Okay, call
• 2:42
  Speaker 5: some posies. Tell them to hold everything for an extra.
• 2:45
  Speaker 5: Tear out page one. Get going. Okay, Srini, now. The
• 2:48
  Speaker 5: heck with the words, give me the garbage. What happened?
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: Nobody knows.
• 2:51
  Speaker 6: There are half a dozen police cars around here, staring
• 2:53
  Speaker 6: at the place where Grant's tomb was. I was about
• 2:56
  Speaker 6: a block away.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: I heard screams.
• 2:57
  Speaker 5: I came running.
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: It was gone.
• 2:58
  Speaker 6: Vanished.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: How many dead?
• 3:00
  Speaker 7: Nobody knows if anybody is dead.
• 3:01
  Speaker 5: I'll find out.
• 3:02
  Speaker 6: How can I find out when everybody was sitting on
• 3:04
  Speaker 6: the steps and all disappeared?
• 3:05
  Speaker 5: What? It's gone. Nobody? No. Okay, you hope it back
• 3:11
  Speaker 5: up there and get stories from witnesses. Now call me back.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: Albert! Yes, Pop?
• 3:16
  Speaker 5: Get Columbia University on the phone and get a statement.
• 3:18
  Speaker 8: Right.
• 3:19
  Speaker 5: Receipt!
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: Yes, sir.
• 3:20
  Speaker 5: Grab an encyclopedia and see if anything like this ever
• 3:22
  Speaker 5: happened before.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: Hey, Walters! Yeah, Pop?
• 3:24
  Speaker 5: Call the army. Find out about secret weapons.
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 3:29
  Speaker 5: Hello, composing. This is Pop Atterby on the city desk.
• 3:32
  Speaker 5: Start setting up an extra. I want to hit the
• 3:34
  Speaker 5: street in 20 minutes. Second extra in an hour with pictures. Okay,
• 3:38
  Speaker 5: what are you waiting for? Get them rolling. Pop. Pop. Oh,
• 3:42
  Speaker 5: I'm busy, Albert.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Yes, sir.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: Pop, Mr. Colborne wants to see you.
• 3:58
  Speaker 5: Toronto. Tell him I'm busy.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: Well, he says to come now.
• 4:02
  Speaker 5: Of all the flat-headed publishers to saddle a newspaper with. Okay.
• 4:08
  Speaker 5: Sweeney calls. Switch it to Colborne's office.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: Okay, Pop.
• 4:14
  Speaker 7: Come in.
• 4:19
  Speaker 5: Listen, Mr. Colborne, I'm very busy now. There's an extra
• 4:21
  Speaker 5: on the rollers and... I know.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: I just called composing and ordered them to stop it.
• 4:26
  Speaker 5: To stop it? Are you.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: Adam B.
• 4:29
  Speaker 8: you've been on the city desk of the Herald for
• 4:31
  Speaker 8: 25 years now. Since when do you waste thousands of
• 4:35
  Speaker 8: dollars on an April Fool issue?
• 4:37
  Speaker 5: April Fool? Listen, Grant's tomb is missing. Is that a story,
• 4:42
  Speaker 5: or am I dead from the neck up?
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: Did you check it?
• 4:44
  Speaker 5: Yes, and Sweeney.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: How do you know it's true?
• 4:46
  Speaker 5: Well, if you.
• 4:46
  Speaker 8: What do you mean spreading cold terror all over town?
• 4:49
  Speaker 5: But Sweeney.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: The devil with Sweeney.
• 4:52
  Speaker 8: How do you know it isn't just a hallucination?
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: Mass hypnotism, something like that.
• 4:56
  Speaker 5: Well, what if it is?
• 4:58
  Speaker 8: Atterby, if this is a farce, we'll be in Dutch,
• 5:02
  Speaker 8: but good. Civil suits, criminal action. We're the only paper
• 5:06
  Speaker 8: in town on the streets with an extra. The other
• 5:08
  Speaker 8: editors don't believe this story.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: For one instant.
• 5:10
  Speaker 5: It takes guts to run a paper.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: Well, if that's what it takes, you've got too many.
• 5:14
  Speaker 8: You took the authority for this without even trying to
• 5:17
  Speaker 8: find me and get an okay.
• 5:18
  Speaker 5: Your father-in-law knew a story has to run while it's hot.
• 5:22
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 5:23
  Speaker 8: You ran this while it was so hot our first
• 5:25
  Speaker 8: ten papers drove the city into a panic. How do
• 5:28
  Speaker 8: we know this whole thing isn't a big.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: Hello. Now there's Corborne. Yes, he's here. It what? Oh, well,
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: that's fine. That's fine and dandy. You're fired!
• 5:45
  Speaker 5: What?
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: It's your star reporter, Mr. Sweeney. Formerly of the Herald.
• 5:52
  Speaker 5: Formerly? Give me that phone. Hello, Sweeney. Did you get
• 5:55
  Speaker 5: the pictures? How are things up there? I need more witnesses. What?
• 6:00
  Speaker 7: It's back.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: Fine, fine.
• 6:03
  Speaker 5: What did you say?
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: It's back. Grant's tomb is back.
• 6:07
  Speaker 5: I'm sorry.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: You're sorry.
• 6:10
  Speaker 5: All right, golden boy. Now give it to me slow.
• 6:14
  Speaker 5: Make it sound intelligent. It just reappeared, that's all. What
• 6:17
  Speaker 5: about the people who were inside?
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: All back.
• 6:20
  Speaker 5: Don't remember a thing.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: It's just like it never happened at all.
• 6:23
  Speaker 5: It's a miracle. It's a miracle. We got an extra
• 6:25
  Speaker 5: on the streets with 28 types screaming that Grant's tomb
• 6:29
  Speaker 5: has vanished and you calmly called me up to tell
• 6:31
  Speaker 5: me that it's back.
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: But it was gone, I tell you, Pop.
• 6:34
  Speaker 5: Green Ape. What? Do me a favor, will you?
• 6:36
  Speaker 8: Yeah, what?
• 6:37
  Speaker 5: Drop dead.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: Well, Atterby, this rerunner attraction just.
• 6:46
  Speaker 5: Doesn't make sense. Twelve police cars, Sarge. We've got statements
• 6:51
  Speaker 5: from witnesses.
• 6:52
  Speaker 8: I told you it was hysteria. Look at the man
• 6:54
  Speaker 8: from Mars broadcast that Orson Welles did. A thousand people
• 6:58
  Speaker 8: will swear they saw the monsters.
• 7:00
  Speaker 5: Oh, I don't know. I'm all confused.
• 7:03
  Speaker 8: Well, let's look at it this way, Atterby. Maybe you've
• 7:06
  Speaker 8: had enough. Enough what? You've been on the city desk
• 7:09
  Speaker 8: 25 years now. That makes you, let me.
• 7:12
  Speaker 5: See, 55? 54. What are you driving at, Mr. Colbert?
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: I mean, maybe you ought to retire. Retire? We need
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: new people, new ideas.
• 7:22
  Speaker 8: I've been thinking about it for some time now.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: With Social Security, you'd get... About 20 bucks. Fine.
• 7:31
  Speaker 5: Now, you listen. I've brought this paper into the world,
• 7:33
  Speaker 5: and it's going to take me out. I was on
• 7:35
  Speaker 5: that city desk before you ever heard of a sticker type.
• 7:38
  Speaker 5: Then you come along and marry a publisher's daughter and...
• 7:40
  Speaker 5: That's enough. I made a mistake, okay. Anybody can make
• 7:46
  Speaker 5: a mistake. I still think there's something in this story.
• 7:49
  Speaker 5: Sweeney's been around too long to blow one like this.
• 7:53
  Speaker 5: Even when he's drunk, he's a better newspaper man than most.
• 7:56
  Speaker 8: I'm sorry. Effective today, you're relieved as city editor. Sanford
• 8:00
  Speaker 8: will take over.
• 8:01
  Speaker 5: Sanford?
• 8:02
  Speaker 8: Why, he's green as grass. If you want to stay
• 8:04
  Speaker 8: on in some minor job... Such as? How about science, editor?
• 8:09
  Speaker 5: Science, editor.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: You can have the office right next to mine. It'll
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: pay the rent.
• 8:18
  Speaker 5: Well? Oh, I don't know.
• 8:21
  Speaker 9: I don't know what I'll do.
• 8:22
  Speaker 5: I've been on the city desk so long.
• 8:25
  Speaker 8: Maybe it's too much excitement for a man your age.
• 8:27
  Speaker 5: Stop writing me off, will you? I'm sick. I'm 54.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: And a man at 54 is no longer a boy.
• 8:37
  Speaker 5: I don't know. Maybe I am losing my grip. Got
• 8:40
  Speaker 5: to go somewhere and think it over.
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: All right, Atterby. Take your time.
• 8:44
  Speaker 5: I'll be across the street at Burley's Bar if you
• 8:47
  Speaker 5: need me. I'll let you know before the bulldog hits
• 8:50
  Speaker 5: the streets.
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: Burleigh!
• 9:04
  Speaker 5: It's K-pop! Yeah, Pop, yeah? More poison. Haven't you had enough, Pop? Yeah,
• 9:11
  Speaker 5: this is a solemn occasion, Burleigh. Call the hemlock.
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: What's the occasion, Pop?
• 9:17
  Speaker 5: I am now a husband. No. Reduced. Humiliated.
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: You, Pop?
• 9:25
  Speaker 5: Never. Meet the new science editor of the Sunday Supplement, me. Good.
• 9:31
  Speaker 5: Knows much about science as J.P. Morgan knows about sharecropping.
• 9:37
  Speaker 5: What happened? Who did it? You familiar with a reporter
• 9:40
  Speaker 5: named Aloysius John Sweeney? Former friend and drinking companion of mine?
• 9:47
  Speaker 5: Sweeney got you busted? The same. Wow. That gentleman should
• 9:52
  Speaker 5: ever by some misforgotten chance thrust his head into this bar. Burley,
• 9:58
  Speaker 5: my friend, I personally live with these two bare hands.
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: Hey, Pop!
• 10:04
  Speaker 5: Pop!
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: Uh-oh. Hey, Pop.
• 10:06
  Speaker 5: Pop, it's me. I shall control my homicidal instinct.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: Listen, Pop. I just came down from Riverside Drive.
• 10:12
  Speaker 5: Very daring move, Sweeney.
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: I brought a guy with me.
• 10:15
  Speaker 5: It won't help, Sweeney. Pop, you don't understand.
• 10:17
  Speaker 6: I found a little guy in a swallowtail coat who
• 10:19
  Speaker 6: watched this whole thing happen.
• 10:21
  Speaker 5: Pop.
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: Burleigh.
• 10:22
  Speaker 5: Burleigh.
• 10:23
  Speaker 7: Quiet.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: Quiet, everybody.
• 10:25
  Speaker 5: Quiet.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: Quiet.
• 10:26
  Speaker 5: Will you?
• 10:27
  Speaker 7: How do you do?
• 10:28
  Speaker 5: Gentlemen?
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: Gentlemen?
• 10:31
  Speaker 7: I can assure you my small stature belies the magnitude
• 10:35
  Speaker 7: of my abilities.
• 10:36
  Speaker 5: What did you bring him for, Sweeney?
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: He's a genius, Papa. Full-time genius.
• 10:41
  Speaker 5: You betrayed me once, Sweeney. Isn't that enough? Take your
• 10:44
  Speaker 5: little man away and don't bother me.
• 10:46
  Speaker 7: Your friend isn't very polite, Mr. Sweeney. Perhaps one day
• 10:50
  Speaker 7: he will learn that even the most insignificant man has
• 10:53
  Speaker 7: a sense of dignity and personal worth.
• 10:56
  Speaker 5: I apologize, Professor. I'm not so at you as your
• 10:59
  Speaker 5: tomato-headed friend here. Sweeney, I ought to kill you. I
• 11:04
  Speaker 5: ought to strangle you with my bare hands. I ought
• 11:06
  Speaker 5: to have you run through a rotary press at low speed.
• 11:10
  Speaker 5: Those things are too good for you.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: But, Pop, look, I'm trying to tell you, the story
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: ain't phony. It happened.
• 11:15
  Speaker 5: Mr.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: Pert, we... Hannibal, tell him about it.
• 11:19
  Speaker 5: Gladly.
• 11:22
  Speaker 7: My contribution has been awaiting worldwide recognition for many years now. Unfortunately,
• 11:28
  Speaker 7: there are some who insist I am insane.
• 11:31
  Speaker 5: I see that.
• 11:33
  Speaker 7: Being small of stature, as you can see, I chose
• 11:36
  Speaker 7: to nurse my resentment rather than to take positive measures. However,
• 11:41
  Speaker 7: I feel now the world is ready to come to
• 11:43
  Speaker 7: terms with Hannibal Pertweeter.
• 11:46
  Speaker 5: Can you or can you not explain this Grant's tomb business?
• 11:50
  Speaker 7: Naturally. It can all be explained quite simply in terms
• 11:56
  Speaker 7: of the Pertwee system of infinite acceleration and transportational facilitation
• 12:01
  Speaker 7: as applied to freightage. I've been trying to sell it
• 12:04
  Speaker 7: to the railroads for ten years.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: Didn't I tell you he was a genius, Pop? Oh, now,
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: wait a minute, Pop. Give him a chance. Show him
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: the trains, Hannibal.
• 12:14
  Speaker 7: Oh, yes, the trains. If you gentlemen will gather around
• 12:17
  Speaker 7: the suitcase.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: Come on, I want you to see them. Come on.
• 12:22
  Speaker 7: As you can see, I have in this suitcase a
• 12:25
  Speaker 7: complete model railroad reduced to the size of a cigar box. Observe.
• 12:31
  Speaker 5: Oh. Oh.
• 12:45
  Speaker 7: That's enough, I think.
• 12:47
  Speaker 5: They run.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: Just like real trains.
• 12:51
  Speaker 5: Sweeney, not content with ruining my life, losing me my job,
• 12:56
  Speaker 5: driving me to alcohol. You're now trying to drive me
• 12:59
  Speaker 5: out of my mind with an obvious madman who builds
• 13:02
  Speaker 5: mud railroads. Here's the money, Burleigh. Keep the change.
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: Oh, but Pop, look.
• 13:06
  Speaker 5: Goodbye, gentlemen.
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: Pop, you're not even giving him a chance. Out of
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: my way. Listen, Pop, please. Out of my way.
• 13:13
  Speaker 7: It's always the same. They won't listen to me.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: Well, I guess Pop is losing his grip.
• 13:19
  Speaker 5: I hate them.
• 13:19
  Speaker 6: No, don't take it so hard, Hannibal.
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: Maybe it was all a hallucination.
• 13:23
  Speaker 7: The Pertwee theory is not a hallucination.
• 13:26
  Speaker 5: Sure, sure, sure.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: Well, it was a good try anyway.
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: I guess I'll go back to the office.
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: And pick up my stuff.
• 13:32
  Speaker 7: But I'll show them. Someday they'll listen.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: Sure, sure. You'll show them, Hannibal. Hey, Burleigh. Fix Professor
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: Pertwee here with a double scotch. Go ahead, make it a.
• 13:48
  Speaker 7: Triple.
• 13:59
  Speaker 10: The newest use of the isotope will enable medical experts
• 14:08
  Speaker 10: Trace with accuracy the growth of....
• 14:16
  Speaker 5: Oh, nuts. Maybe it's better to be unemployed. Science editor speaking. Pop?
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah? Sweeney, listen, I got a story.
• 14:28
  Speaker 5: I thought Carl Brown canned you.
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: You can't fire me. Listen, you know Burley's Bar?
• 14:34
  Speaker 5: Does DiMaggio know Yankee Stadium? What about Burley's Bar? It's gone.
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: Oh, sweetie.
• 14:40
  Speaker 5: On the level, Pop, just a few seconds ago.
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: Take a look at the window.
• 14:43
  Speaker 5: Sweeney, I warn you. Take a look, take a look. Okay, Sweeney,
• 14:46
  Speaker 5: hang on.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: Albert?
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: Yes, Pop?
• 14:49
  Speaker 5: Do me a favor. Stick your head out of that
• 14:52
  Speaker 5: window and tell me if anything unusual is going on
• 14:54
  Speaker 5: at Braley's Corner.
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: Okay, Pop.
• 15:00
  Speaker 5: Holy jumping catfish! Huh? It's gone. Come here and look.
• 15:05
  Speaker 7: Come here.
• 15:08
  Speaker 5: Well, I'll be a monkey. Where's Coleman?
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: He went to a polo match out on Long Island.
• 15:13
  Speaker 5: Who's on the city desk?
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: Young Stan?
• 15:15
  Speaker 5: Come on. City desk.
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: Okay, I'll give it to rewrite. Just a second. City desk.
• 15:25
  Speaker 9: What?
• 15:27
  Speaker 5: Are you nuts? What?
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: Everybody listen to this, will you?
• 15:32
  Speaker 5: It's Martinson down at 34th Street.
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: He says the Empire State Building has disappeared.
• 15:36
  Speaker 5: Can you feature that? What are you going to do
• 15:37
  Speaker 5: about it?
• 15:38
  Speaker 6: Do?
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: Am I supposed to do something?
• 15:39
  Speaker 5: He's gone nuts. Give me that phone.
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: Hey, let go.
• 15:41
  Speaker 5: Give me that phone.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: Hello, Marty. This is Pop.
• 15:44
  Speaker 5: Pop!
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: What are you doing on the desk?
• 15:46
  Speaker 5: Never mind.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: What happened?
• 15:47
  Speaker 5: Well, I'm down at the precinct.
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: Five minutes ago, a cop staggered in.
• 15:51
  Speaker 7: It's gone, he says.
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: What's gone, they say?
• 15:53
  Speaker 9: The Empire State, he says. Well, I figure I'd better call.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: Okay, get down there and get the details.
• 15:59
  Speaker 5: In case you need to convince him, Burley's bar went
• 16:01
  Speaker 5: just before you called.
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: Macro, what a catastrophe that is.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: Okay, Pop, I'll call you.
• 16:07
  Speaker 5: Look at the skyline.
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: The Empire State isn't there.
• 16:11
  Speaker 5: Now, now, now, don't get panicky. Don't get panicky. It
• 16:16
  Speaker 5: may come back, just like Gran's tomb.
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: Okay, Pop. You'll take over, won't you? I'm kind of shady.
• 16:22
  Speaker 5: Will I? I'll show you fledglings how to run a
• 16:25
  Speaker 5: newspaper together. What? Yep. Get a camera down to Empire State.
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 16:30
  Speaker 7: What a story.
• 16:31
  Speaker 5: Call the mayor, Albert. Tell him what he... Ask what
• 16:33
  Speaker 5: he intends to do.
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: Check, check.
• 16:35
  Speaker 5: Where's the research department?
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: Right here, sir.
• 16:37
  Speaker 5: Columbia University says it's mass hypnotism. Tell him to... No. Now,
• 16:41
  Speaker 5: dress it up and shoot it down. Yes, sir. Research.
• 16:43
  Speaker 5: Wait a minute. Yes, sir. Find out how many people
• 16:45
  Speaker 5: are usually in the Empire State.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: Yes, sir.
• 16:48
  Speaker 5: No, don't try to call the Empire State to find out.
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: No.
• 16:51
  Speaker 5: No, it isn't there.
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: No.
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: City death.
• 16:56
  Speaker 5: Shoot. Frank Halter, listen.
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: I'm dead sober, see?
• 17:01
  Speaker 5: Yeah, they're garbage, Frankie. They're garbage. Remember, I'm sober. S
• 17:04
  Speaker 5: isn't sober. O isn't sober. Come on.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: Come on.
• 17:06
  Speaker 5: What happened?
• 17:08
  Speaker 9: Help me, Pop.
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: Penn Station just disappeared.
• 17:11
  Speaker 5: Fanny. Finnair. Jumping turtles. The people do.
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: People trade the works. I'm telling you, there's a hall
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: a block wide. I was lucky I was only a
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: block away. You saw it? Eyewitness.
• 17:22
  Speaker 5: Oh, Brescia, my boy, don't.
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: It was a rumble, see?
• 17:25
  Speaker 5: A kind of electrical hum in the air.
• 17:27
  Speaker 9: And all of a sudden, the station seemed to cave
• 17:29
  Speaker 9: in on itself.
• 17:30
  Speaker 5: Wango. Nothing. Any statement?
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: No, but you ought to see the hall.
• 17:34
  Speaker 5: Oh, get statements, flathead. Where are you now?
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: I'm over at the post office, right across the street
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: from Penn.
• 17:40
  Speaker 5: Bob!
• 17:41
  Speaker 6: Bob!
• 17:42
  Speaker 5: Hello.
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: Hello.
• 17:46
  Speaker 5: Hello. Hello, Frankie. Frankie, operator.
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: Pop, pop, we got a flash. The United States Post
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: Office just went. The whole darn city is going piece
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: by piece.
• 17:57
  Speaker 5: Don't lose your head, Albert.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: Hello.
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: This is the composing room about that Empire.
• 18:03
  Speaker 6: State Building story.
• 18:04
  Speaker 5: Well, it's old news. We've just lost Penn Station and
• 18:08
  Speaker 5: the post office. Get out a new banner head. New
• 18:11
  Speaker 5: York City vanishing.
• 18:12
  Speaker 6: What about copy?
• 18:13
  Speaker 5: You don't need copy for a story like this. Tell
• 18:16
  Speaker 5: that linotype operator to use imagination. Albert.
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: Pop.
• 18:22
  Speaker 5: Anything else missing? Price of the building, maybe.
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: Nothing yet, Pop.
• 18:27
  Speaker 5: Oh. Anything reappeared yet?
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: No word on anything.
• 18:30
  Speaker 5: Maybe things are stabilizing. Call composing. Tell him to start rolling.
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: Right, Pop.
• 18:36
  Speaker 5: And find Sweeney. Tell him to phone from downstairs a
• 18:38
  Speaker 5: while ago. I forgot all about him. Tell him he's
• 18:40
  Speaker 5: hired again. I'll print any statement that isn't immoral.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: Uh-oh, Pop. Here comes Mr.
• 18:45
  Speaker 5: Trouble.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: Attaboy!
• 18:47
  Speaker 5: Oh, now, take it easy, Corbin. Attaboy!
• 18:50
  Speaker 8: What are you doing at the city desk? Where's Sanborn?
• 18:53
  Speaker 8: What's going on here, anyway? Has everyone gone out of
• 18:56
  Speaker 8: his mind?
• 18:56
  Speaker 5: Listen, the Empire State, the Penn Station, and the Post
• 18:59
  Speaker 5: Office have all been missing for almost five minutes.
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: Get away from that desk, you. Drop that telephone.
• 19:03
  Speaker 5: Listen.
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: I don't care if Washington, D.C. has been bombed by
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: the Martians.
• 19:07
  Speaker 5: I want you out of this office in two minutes. Albert,
• 19:10
  Speaker 5: cancel those extras. Pop, you get out your fire. Oh,
• 19:13
  Speaker 5: you're not being racist.
• 19:14
  Speaker 7: I'm not interested in the other papers.
• 19:16
  Speaker 8: Just get out of here before I go start raving mad.
• 19:35
  Speaker 7: Hey, Pop.
• 19:38
  Speaker 5: Hey, Pop. Oh, hello, Srini. Where have you been?
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: I've been trying to make up my mind whether to
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: come up or not. When you left me hanging on
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: the phone, I thought you was insulting me. I.
• 19:47
  Speaker 5: Hey.
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: How come you aren't on the desk?
• 19:50
  Speaker 5: Oh, I'm canned. Canned? Are you kidding? Oh, it's been coming.
• 19:56
  Speaker 5: I really had the place jumping. You should have seen me, Sweeney.
• 19:59
  Speaker 5: It was like the San Francisco earthquake. Oh, I need
• 20:04
  Speaker 5: a drink. How about... Oh, keep forgetting. Isn't any Burley's anymore?
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: No. Just a big hole in the ground. Let's walk over.
• 20:16
  Speaker 5: I want to browse around.
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: Oh, Pop, there's nothing to see. Well, let's take a
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: snoop anyway.
• 20:22
  Speaker 5: Just for old time's sake.
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: Well, okay, Pop, let's cross. We got the light.
• 20:36
  Speaker 5: Well, will you look at that. Who'd ever thought that
• 20:40
  Speaker 5: less than ten minutes ago there was a building here? Yeah.
• 20:43
  Speaker 5: Let's climb down and have a look, Sweeney.
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: Well, um, what for, Pop? It's getting dark, you know.
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: We'll break our necks.
• 20:50
  Speaker 5: Sweeney, where's your old reporter spirit? Come on.
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: Well, okay, but I don't see what you expect to find.
• 20:57
  Speaker 5: My tank.
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: Easy, easy, easy. Clean as a bone.
• 21:12
  Speaker 5: Well, let's walk around a bit. See anything?
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: No, just rocks, pieces of the foundation.
• 21:24
  Speaker 5: I'll bet you that.
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: Pop, wait a minute.
• 21:27
  Speaker 5: What? Will you look at this?
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: So small I almost missed it.
• 21:33
  Speaker 5: Well, I'll be a son of a... A perfect scale
• 21:36
  Speaker 5: model of Burley's. Less than four inches tall.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: What do you suppose this is doing here?
• 21:41
  Speaker 5: I don't know.
• 21:42
  Speaker 7: Can I help you, gentlemen?
• 21:44
  Speaker 5: Right away.
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: What are you doing down here?
• 21:46
  Speaker 7: I'm looking for my model. Thank you for finding it.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: Oh, this is yours, is it?
• 21:54
  Speaker 7: Certainly. Now, if you'll be kind enough to hand it
• 21:57
  Speaker 7: to me, I'll.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: Just put it back in my suitcase. You better give
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: it to him, Pop.
• 22:01
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 22:02
  Speaker 7: Thank you. There we are. Thank you, gentlemen.
• 22:06
  Speaker 5: I thought you just went in for model trains.
• 22:09
  Speaker 7: I have always been preoccupied with tiny things. But lately
• 22:14
  Speaker 7: I've been branching out. Well, I really must be going.
• 22:18
  Speaker 7: Thank you very much.
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: He's as loony as a bat. The geniuses are all crazy.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: I read it in the book.
• 22:27
  Speaker 5: Sweeney, you get a look in that suitcase.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: Sure, I seen it when he opened it in the
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: bar this morning.
• 22:33
  Speaker 5: I mean just now. Oh, why? This morning when he
• 22:36
  Speaker 5: opened his suitcase, he had a little round tube and
• 22:39
  Speaker 5: a set of model trains in it. Nothing else. So,
• 22:43
  Speaker 5: this time he had three other models. So what? Nothing.
• 22:49
  Speaker 5: Except they happened to be models of the Empire State
• 22:52
  Speaker 5: Penn Station and the United States Post Office.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: There he goes down the block, Pop.
• 23:08
  Speaker 5: Break free!
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: Break free!
• 23:09
  Speaker 6: Come back here!
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: He's starting to run. Here, here, here's a cab.
• 23:11
  Speaker 5: Come on.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: What to, Mark?
• 23:14
  Speaker 5: Catch up with that little guy running down on the block.
• 23:15
  Speaker 5: Make it fast. Okay, Mark.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: There he is.
• 23:25
  Speaker 5: Hold it, Tabby. Hold it.
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: Come on, sweetie.
• 23:28
  Speaker 5: Hey, how about my show?
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: Hey, you punk. Stop, gentlemen.
• 23:32
  Speaker 5: Stop.
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: I warn you.
• 23:33
  Speaker 5: Hey, Pop.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: He's got that little tube out of his suitcase. He's
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: pointing it.
• 23:36
  Speaker 5: Grab him, sweetie.
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: All right, give me that thing. Let go of my arm.
• 23:40
  Speaker 5: Give it to me. There.
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: I warn you.
• 23:44
  Speaker 5: Never mind the warnings. Just you come along with us.
• 23:47
  Speaker 5: We're going to have a little talk. Take him up
• 23:49
  Speaker 5: to the office, sweetie.
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: Pop.
• 23:51
  Speaker 5: What? Where's the taxi? What?
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: The taxi!
• 23:54
  Speaker 5: If you look at.
• 23:55
  Speaker 7: The curb, you'll find your taxi.
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: Jumping saints. Don't look at it.
• 24:02
  Speaker 7: Now, gentlemen, perhaps the world will believe in the validity
• 24:06
  Speaker 7: of the Pertwee system of infinite acceleration.
• 24:23
  Speaker 5: All right, Hannibal, now you start talking.
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: I won't.
• 24:25
  Speaker 5: Hold his hand, Sweeney.
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: That's a pleasure.
• 24:28
  Speaker 5: Well, Hannibal? Let me out of this office.
• 24:31
  Speaker 9: Talk.
• 24:32
  Speaker 8: Never.
• 24:32
  Speaker 5: Sweeney, where's the tube?
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: Right here, Pop.
• 24:34
  Speaker 5: Now, Hannibal, I give you five seconds to talk, after
• 24:38
  Speaker 5: which I'm turning this tube on you for a taste
• 24:40
  Speaker 5: of your own medicine. Now think it over. One. Two. No. Three.
• 24:46
  Speaker 7: I hate them.
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: Why should I save them?
• 24:47
  Speaker 5: Four.
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 24:50
  Speaker 7: Put it away, please.
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: That's better.
• 24:53
  Speaker 5: Now, how did you do it?
• 24:56
  Speaker 7: Many years ago, Einstein posed the theory that if an
• 25:01
  Speaker 7: object were sufficiently accelerated, it would gradually flatten out and
• 25:06
  Speaker 7: eventually disappear altogether. Working on this approach, I evolved a
• 25:11
  Speaker 7: method of accelerating the atoms within the molecules, setting an
• 25:16
  Speaker 7: object spinning in four rather than three dimensions. For many years,
• 25:21
  Speaker 7: I tried to sell my idea to the railroad for
• 25:24
  Speaker 7: condensing freight and storage.
• 25:26
  Speaker 5: And you start the thing spinning with this little tube?
• 25:29
  Speaker 7: The tube sends out a whirling ring of electrons which
• 25:32
  Speaker 7: engulf the object.
• 25:33
  Speaker 5: Why did you turn it on those buildings?
• 25:35
  Speaker 7: I was driven to it. Only something dramatic could shock
• 25:39
  Speaker 7: the world into realizing my greatness.
• 25:42
  Speaker 5: But you'll restore them. You brought back Grant's tomb.
• 25:46
  Speaker 7: I can restore them, yes.
• 25:48
  Speaker 5: Not can, Hannibal.
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: Will.
• 25:50
  Speaker 7: On one condition.
• 25:51
  Speaker 5: Well?
• 25:52
  Speaker 7: That your paper give me full credit for my scientific achievement.
• 25:56
  Speaker 7: Front page, pictures, a complete story.
• 25:58
  Speaker 5: It's a deal.
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: Wait a minute, Pop. We don't even work for this
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: paper anymore, remember?
• 26:02
  Speaker 5: We'll take care of that little matter, Sweeney. Mr. Coleman,
• 26:06
  Speaker 5: this is Pop Atterby. You've just rehired me. Now, if
• 26:10
  Speaker 5: you'd care to step down the hall into my new office,
• 26:12
  Speaker 5: I think I can show you something. Make your hair
• 26:14
  Speaker 5: stand on end. I have three missing buildings in my
• 26:18
  Speaker 5: desk drawer. Well? He's on fire. Says he's coming down
• 26:23
  Speaker 5: here to have me committed to an institution. Fine.
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: All right, Atterby. All right.
• 26:28
  Speaker 8: What's going on here? I fired you. I ordered you
• 26:31
  Speaker 8: off these premises. If this is a joke, I.
• 26:32
  Speaker 5: Well, Mr. Coleman, you see these models?
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: What about them?
• 26:36
  Speaker 5: What would you say if I were to tell you
• 26:38
  Speaker 5: that these five-inch models are actually the Empire State, Penn Station,
• 26:44
  Speaker 5: the United States Post Office, and Burley's Bar, and a
• 26:48
  Speaker 5: taxi cab? All compressed 500 times. That there are people
• 26:53
  Speaker 5: in them so tiny they can't see them. That even
• 26:56
  Speaker 5: time is so compressed inside these buildings that movement is impossible.
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: This is insanity. Who is this man?
• 27:04
  Speaker 5: I don't... Sit down, Carbon. The show hasn't even started yet. Sweeney,
• 27:08
  Speaker 5: put the taxi cab out in the middle of the floor.
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: Okay, Pop.
• 27:11
  Speaker 5: Now, stand back. Hannibal, here's the tube. Now, do your stuff.
• 27:16
  Speaker 7: Stand back.
• 27:18
  Speaker 9: Now.
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: Good Lord. I don't believe it. It's getting bigger.
• 27:24
  Speaker 7: I reversed the polarity of the spin very gradually.
• 27:28
  Speaker 5: What's the idea of blocking traffic, you lousy bum?
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: Hey, where am I?
• 27:35
  Speaker 5: Hey, what happened?
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: How did my cab get in this office?
• 27:39
  Speaker 5: Take it easy, George. What is this? Who are you?
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: Hey, ain't you the fat that skipped out on me? Hey,
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: what is this, a bug house? Well, Mr.
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: Coleman, I.
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: I don't understand.
• 27:50
  Speaker 5: But you do believe.
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: Well, yes, yes. I saw it right before my eyes.
• 27:54
  Speaker 5: Okay, well, then here's the deal. You give our boy
• 27:57
  Speaker 5: Hannibal a front-page spread with pictures. He'll take these other
• 28:01
  Speaker 5: buildings back to the original sites and restore them just
• 28:04
  Speaker 5: like they were, with our cameras getting exclusive shots.
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: Now, is it a bargain? Is it a bargain?
• 28:11
  Speaker 8: I may not be the best newspaper man in the world,
• 28:13
  Speaker 8: but this is the biggest thing since Noah's Ark. You're
• 28:16
  Speaker 8: rehired as city editor at your old salary.
• 28:18
  Speaker 5: My old salary?
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: All right, all right. Plus a 500 bonus.
• 28:22
  Speaker 5: Ah, it's a deal. Sweeney, call composing. Tell them to
• 28:25
  Speaker 5: double the size of the front page. Have them hold
• 28:26
  Speaker 5: it for a red banner full page headline.
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: Got that? Right.
• 28:30
  Speaker 5: Hello, Albert. This is Pop. Listen, I want all photographers
• 28:33
  Speaker 5: up in my office right away. Call research. Tell that
• 28:36
  Speaker 5: girl to have Columbia send a battery of big shots
• 28:38
  Speaker 5: over to the former site of Penn Station.
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: Hey, Mac.
• 28:42
  Speaker 5: Hey, Mac. I'm busy, George.
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: Sweeney, what's the word?
• 28:48
  Speaker 5: All right, all right. What is it?
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: All I want to know is, how do I get
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: my hack out.
• 28:53
  Speaker 7: Of this office?
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: You have just heard another adventure in time, space, and
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: the unknown world of the future.
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: The world of.
• 29:23
  Speaker 4: Dimension!
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: How would you like to leave your home and friends
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: for a trip that might last for ten years, or
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: for You'll hear all about it on Dimension X next
• 29:43
  Speaker 3: week when we present Shanghai.
• 29:48
  Speaker 9: Today, Dimension X has presented The Professor Was a Thief,
• 29:52
  Speaker 9: an adaptation by George Lefferts of a story by L.
• 29:55
  Speaker 5: Ron Hubbard.
• 29:57
  Speaker 9: Featured in the cast were Arthur Maitland as Pop, John
• 30:00
  Speaker 9: Larkin as Sweeney, and John Gibson as the professor. Your
• 30:04
  Speaker 9: host was Norman Rose. Music by Burt Berman, engineer Bill Chambers.
• 30:09
  Speaker 9: Dimension X is produced by William Welch and directed by
• 30:12
  Speaker 9: Edward King. Three chimes mean good times on NBC. Tonight
• 30:22
  Speaker 9: is the time for the premiere of NBC's gigantic Sunday
• 30:26
  Speaker 9: night broadcast, The Big Show. Every Sunday evening, starting tonight,
• 30:31
  Speaker 9: you'll hear an hour and a half of the greatest
• 30:33
  Speaker 9: stars in radio. Performers like Fred Allen, Jimmy Durante, Ethel Merman,
• 30:38
  Speaker 9: Frankie Lane, Meredith.
• 30:39
  Speaker 5: Wilson, and many, many more.
• 30:41
  Speaker 9: And your emcee will be the lady who invented the
• 30:44
  Speaker 9: snappy retort, Tallulah Bankhead.
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: It's the big show.
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: Hear the big show later today on NBC.
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: You have been hearing Dimension X and The Professor Was
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: a Thief. Good night and thank you for joining us.