Latest / X Minus One | Old Time Radio / X Minus One - "A Logic Named Joe" (Old Time Radio, 1955)
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: In the year 1974, household logic machines handle communication, information,
- 0:06Speaker 1: and the daily business of modern life. But when logic
- 0:09Speaker 1: corporation serviceman Frank Caldwell encounters a newly manufactured unit called Joe,
- 0:15Speaker 1: its behavior sets him on a search for what has
- 0:17Speaker 1: changed in a society tied together by its machines. From
- 0:21Speaker 1: NBC's X-1, this is episode 31, A Logic Named Joe,
- 0:27Speaker 1: broadcast December 28, 1955. Adapted for radio by Clarice A.
- 0:33Speaker 1: Ross from Murray Linster's short story, the cast includes Wendell Holmes,
- 0:37Speaker 1: Mandel Kramer, Guy Repp, William Zuckert, Bob Hastings, and Joseph Julian.
- 0:43Speaker 1: And now, the original broadcast.
- 0:49Speaker 2: Countdown for blastoff. X minus 5, 4, 3, 2, X
- 0:52Speaker 2: minus 1, fire. From the far horizons of the unknown
- 1:26Speaker 2: come transcribed tales of new dimensions in time and space.
- 1:30Speaker 2: These are stories of the future, adventures in which you'll
- 1:33Speaker 2: live in a million could-be years on a thousand maybe worlds.
- 1:36Speaker 2: The National Broadcasting Company, in cooperation with Street & Smith,
- 1:40Speaker 2: publishers of astounding science fiction, presents.
- 1:43Speaker 3: X minus 1.
- 1:57Speaker 2: Tonight's story, A Logic Named Joe by Murray Leinster.
- 2:10Speaker 4: It was on the third day of August that Joe
- 2:12Speaker 4: came off the assembly line. And on the fourth, Maureen
- 2:16Speaker 4: came into town. And that afternoon, I saved civilization. Maureen
- 2:22Speaker 4: is a blonde I was crazy about once, and Joe
- 2:24Speaker 4: is a new 1974 Model Logic that I've got stored
- 2:28Speaker 4: away down in the cellar. And how do I save civilization?
- 2:32Speaker 4: You're listening now to a voice from the future.
- 2:34Speaker 2: The voice of Frank Caldwell, head serviceman for the Logix Corporation,
- 2:39Speaker 2: makers of the machine that does.
- 2:40Speaker 3: Everything for you.
- 2:42Speaker 2: Well, nearly everything, anyway.
- 2:44Speaker 4: The Electronic Logix.
- 2:46Speaker 2: In the year we speak, 1974, no modern home was
- 2:49Speaker 2: completely without one. And the logic sets were working so
- 2:52Speaker 2: well that life was soft indeed for repairman Frank Caldwell.
- 2:56Speaker 2: That is, until that fatal day of August the 3rd,
- 2:58Speaker 2: when suddenly the logics began doing everything for their users
- 3:01Speaker 2: and doing it too well.
- 3:03Speaker 4: On the 3rd of August, there wasn't much doing, and
- 3:06Speaker 4: I'm hanging around the boss's office smoking up his cigars.
- 3:10Speaker 3: Frank, there's a customer outside. Go take care of him,
- 3:12Speaker 3: will you?
- 3:13Speaker 5: Me?
- 3:13Speaker 4: I'm a maintenance man.
- 3:14Speaker 3: Mr. Korlanovich wants to have Logix explain to him. Explain?
- 3:18Speaker 4: Where's he been? On Mars?
- 3:19Speaker 3: He just moved up from the backwoods someplace.
- 3:21Speaker 4: Well, why don't you explain him?
- 3:22Speaker 3: Well, I don't feel too well.
- 3:24Speaker 4: You were okay half an hour ago.
- 3:25Speaker 3: Are you the boss here, or am I? One out there,
- 3:27Speaker 3: will you?
- 3:28Speaker 4: Okay, okay.
- 3:31Speaker 3: Oh, Mr.
- 3:31Speaker 6: Korlanovich?
- 3:32Speaker 3: Good morning.
- 3:32Speaker 4: My name is Caldwell. Can I help you?
- 3:34Speaker 5: Oh, thank you, Mr.
- 3:35Speaker 3: Caldwell.
- 3:36Speaker 5: This is my little boy, Freddy.
- 3:38Speaker 6: Hiya, jerk!
- 3:40Speaker 5: Oh, Freddy. How many times have I got to tell
- 3:42Speaker 5: you not to kick people in the shins? Excuse it, please, Mr.
- 3:45Speaker 4: Caldwell. Oh, sure, sure. Just a kid.
- 3:49Speaker 7: I got a knife home. Could cut you into little pieces.
- 3:51Speaker 3: Please, Freddy.
- 3:53Speaker 5: We'd like to buy a logic, Mr.
- 3:55Speaker 4: Caldwell.
- 3:56Speaker 5: The gentleman we spoke to first said he had to
- 3:58Speaker 5: leave in a hurry.
- 3:59Speaker 4: I'll fix him. Well, I understand that you're not acquainted
- 4:01Speaker 4: with logics, Mr. Kalanovich.
- 4:04Speaker 5: That's right. We just moved to the city.
- 4:06Speaker 8: Uh-huh.
- 4:06Speaker 5: My wife, she saw everybody else had a logic, and
- 4:10Speaker 5: you know how women are.
- 4:11Speaker 4: Oh, you bet. Well, you can't get along without a
- 4:14Speaker 4: logic in this day and age, Mr. Kalanovich.
- 4:16Speaker 7: Look, I got a snake. You want to see?
- 4:17Speaker 3: Will you shut that?
- 4:19Speaker 4: Now, about the logic. Here, I'll just plug in this
- 4:21Speaker 4: one right here. Now, you see, the logic looks kind
- 4:25Speaker 4: of like an old-fashioned television set, only it's got keys
- 4:28Speaker 4: instead of dials. Now, a lot of the keys are standard, like...
- 4:31Speaker 4: The television stations, the news, the stock market quotes, and
- 4:34Speaker 4: so on. Of course, if you want to talk to somebody,
- 4:37Speaker 4: you just punch the number of his logic. It's like
- 4:39Speaker 4: making an old-fashioned phone call.
- 4:41Speaker 5: But there can't be keys for everything.
- 4:43Speaker 3: Oh, no, no, no, no.
- 4:44Speaker 4: Now, let's say that you want to ask a question,
- 4:46Speaker 4: like what to take for a sore throat, or who
- 4:49Speaker 4: won the American League pennant in 1911. You turn on
- 4:52Speaker 4: the logic, then you just punch the question key and ask,
- 4:55Speaker 4: like this. Who was the first president of the United States?
- 5:04Speaker 9: George Washington.
- 5:06Speaker 3: There, you see?
- 5:08Speaker 5: But I already knew that.
- 5:09Speaker 4: Well, of course. That was just a sample.
- 5:12Speaker 5: I got a little store. Will it keep books for me?
- 5:15Speaker 4: It will keep your books, record your contracts, serve as
- 5:17Speaker 4: a filing system, and check up on what happened to
- 5:19Speaker 4: your lawyer's last client.
- 5:21Speaker 3: Anything.
- 5:21Speaker 5: Hey, they're really something, these things.
- 5:25Speaker 4: 10,000 services and information sources in one. Read our advertising.
- 5:28Speaker 5: What I want to know, Mr. Caldwell, how do these
- 5:30Speaker 5: logics work? Of course.
- 5:31Speaker 4: Now, you saw that big building across the street?
- 5:34Speaker 3: Sure.
- 5:34Speaker 4: Well, that's one of the relay tanks. You see, there
- 5:36Speaker 4: are a dozen of them all around the country. And
- 5:38Speaker 4: they're all hooked up together. And there's a data plate
- 5:41Speaker 4: in one of those tanks for every fact in creation.
- 5:45Speaker 4: Anything that you want to see or hear, you just
- 5:46Speaker 4: punch for it. And the logic gives you the answer.
- 5:49Speaker 7: Hey, listen. Could I ask this thing how to make
- 5:51Speaker 7: dart poison?
- 5:53Speaker 4: How to make what?
- 5:54Speaker 7: Dart poison. Like in Africa. I could shoot the darts
- 5:57Speaker 7: through my bean shooter.
- 5:58Speaker 3: Maybe.
- 5:59Speaker 5: I think maybe we'd better not get one of these.
- 6:01Speaker 4: Oh, no, no, no, no. It's perfectly all right, Mr. Kalanovich.
- 6:03Speaker 4: The logic won't tell you that.
- 6:05Speaker 7: I bet it will. I'm going to try it. Hey,
- 6:09Speaker 7: how do you make dark poison?
- 6:14Speaker 9: Public policy forbids this service.
- 6:18Speaker 7: Oh, what'd you do that for?
- 6:20Speaker 4: Kind of some little brat. Because some people might ask
- 6:22Speaker 4: things that aren't good for them.
- 6:24Speaker 7: Listen, I don't like this here one. I want that
- 6:26Speaker 7: one over there.
- 6:27Speaker 4: Kid, they're all alike.
- 6:28Speaker 7: I want that one. If I can't have that one,
- 6:30Speaker 7: I'm going to hold my breath till I'm dead.
- 6:32Speaker 4: I got a lot of time.
- 6:34Speaker 3: It's no use, Mr.
- 6:34Speaker 5: Caldwell.
- 6:35Speaker 3: You might as well give him the one he wants.
- 6:36Speaker 4: But look, kid, there's so much I like that even
- 6:38Speaker 4: I can't tell them apart.
- 6:39Speaker 8: I can.
- 6:40Speaker 7: I want Joe.
- 6:42Speaker 4: Joe? Who's Joe?
- 6:44Speaker 5: I guess he means the logic, Mr.
- 6:45Speaker 8: Caldwell.
- 6:47Speaker 10: He has to think up a name to call everything.
- 6:50Speaker 10: You should hear some of the names he calls me.
- 6:52Speaker 7: Not till I'm 21. I promised Mother.
- 6:54Speaker 4: Okay, so we call him Joe. But them things are
- 6:56Speaker 4: all alike to one ten-thousandth of an inch.
- 6:58Speaker 7: I don't care. I bet he'll teach me how to
- 7:00Speaker 7: make dart poison.
- 7:02Speaker 3: Okay, then.
- 7:04Speaker 4: Come on, Joe. So he keeps yelling, I want that one,
- 7:19Speaker 4: I want that one. I'm going to call him Joe. Mike,
- 7:21Speaker 4: I tell you, I could have wrung his neck.
- 7:23Speaker 5: How many cards?
- 7:24Speaker 3: I'll draw two.
- 7:26Speaker 4: What a holy terror. He had his father scared to death.
- 7:29Speaker 11: Too bad that kid ain't mine. I'd show him quick
- 7:31Speaker 11: enough who was boss in the family.
- 7:33Speaker 3: Oh, holy smoke.
- 7:34Speaker 4: What's the matter? I'm sorry, fellas. I got to hold
- 7:36Speaker 4: up the hand. I just remembered.
- 7:37Speaker 11: I got to call my wife.
- 7:38Speaker 4: Let her wait.
- 7:39Speaker 11: You ever met my wife?
- 7:44Speaker 3: Hey, what's the.
- 7:46Speaker 4: Matter with this thing?
- 7:47Speaker 7: It ain't getting my house.
- 7:49Speaker 9: Announcing new and improved logic service. Your logic is now
- 7:53Speaker 9: equipped to give not only consultative, but directive advice. If
- 7:58Speaker 9: you want to do something and don't know how to
- 8:00Speaker 9: do it, ask your logic.
- 8:03Speaker 5: Hey, did you guys hear that?
- 8:05Speaker 4: Well, they should have told us about this. Or is
- 8:07Speaker 4: this somebody trying to pull a gag?
- 8:08Speaker 6: It didn't sound like a gag to me.
- 8:10Speaker 4: Maybe the boss decided to add a new logic service. Look,
- 8:13Speaker 4: the minute the system starts giving advice, some joker like
- 8:15Speaker 4: you is going to be asking questions like, how do
- 8:17Speaker 4: I get rid of my wife? Oh, no. The boss
- 8:19Speaker 4: knows better than to start anything like that. Yeah, but
- 8:21Speaker 4: you heard what the logic just said. Oh, listen, the
- 8:24Speaker 4: sensor circuits will block the question. If you don't believe me,
- 8:26Speaker 4: go ahead and try it.
- 8:27Speaker 6: Well, anything for a gag.
- 8:31Speaker 4: Okay, logic, I got a question for you. How do
- 8:33Speaker 4: I get rid of my wife?
- 8:38Speaker 9: Service question. Is your wife blonde or brunette?
- 8:44Speaker 5: You don't hear that?
- 8:46Speaker 4: She's a blonde.
- 8:51Speaker 9: Exicrylobinatine is a constituent of green shoe polish. Take home
- 8:57Speaker 9: a frozen meal containing pea soup. Color the soup with
- 9:01Speaker 9: green shoe polish. This poison is fatal to blonde females only.
- 9:07Speaker 9: This fact is a product of logic service. You cannot
- 9:11Speaker 9: be convicted of murder. It is improbable that you will
- 9:15Speaker 9: be suspected.
- 9:17Speaker 3: This seems preservative.
- 9:18Speaker 4: And it's bound to be right. These things can't make
- 9:20Speaker 4: a mistake. Well, Mike, don't just stand there. Check the
- 9:22Speaker 4: census circuits, quick. Oh, we can't get to them. They're
- 9:25Speaker 4: all sealed up. It's supposed to be impossible for them.
- 9:27Speaker 3: To go out of order.
- 9:28Speaker 4: Well, they're out of order now. And I got a
- 9:30Speaker 4: feeling that some awful things are going to happen. Boss,
- 9:46Speaker 4: we've got to do something. The logics have gone nuts.
- 9:48Speaker 3: Now, relax. The thing gave a goofy answer once. Maybe
- 9:51Speaker 3: it was a joke. It was an accident. Forget it.
- 9:54Speaker 3: It won't happen again.
- 9:55Speaker 4: What makes you so sure? People are going to be
- 9:57Speaker 4: trying it. Look, look, supposing I wanted to get rid
- 9:59Speaker 4: of you. for instance.
- 10:00Speaker 3: You don't. How would you collect your pay?
- 10:02Speaker 4: I know, but just supposing. Now, look, we'll try it.
- 10:04Speaker 9: If you want to do something and don't know how,
- 10:10Speaker 9: ask your logic.
- 10:12Speaker 4: How do I bump off my boss? Male, fat, bald-headed
- 10:16Speaker 4: and 45.
- 10:16Speaker 6: Uh-huh.
- 10:21Speaker 9: Make some chocolate ice cream containing powdered charcoal in place
- 10:25Speaker 9: of half the chocolate. Use Hotso brand charcoal. Hotso contains
- 10:31Speaker 9: an ingredient fatal only to fat, bald-headed males. This fact
- 10:37Speaker 9: is a product of logic's service.
- 10:39Speaker 12: Now, look, Frank, I admit these things have gone a
- 10:41Speaker 12: little wacky, but there's nothing to worry about.
- 10:43Speaker 4: Nothing to worry about? If this keeps up, what do
- 10:46Speaker 4: you bet that we'll have to shut down the company?
- 10:47Speaker 3: You're kidding.
- 10:48Speaker 12: We can't shut down the company, and you know it.
- 10:50Speaker 12: Logics have taken the place of everything but night baseball.
- 10:53Speaker 12: We shut them down, we go back to a civilization
- 10:55Speaker 12: that we've forgotten how to run.
- 10:56Speaker 4: But, boss, there's no telling what they'll do.
- 10:58Speaker 12: Listen, now, you've asked these questions for a gag. Nobody's
- 11:00Speaker 12: going to ask them seriously. What you need is a
- 11:03Speaker 12: little faith in human nature. Excuse me, it's probably my wife.
- 11:07Speaker 3: Cyrus, dear, how do you feel? Oh, just fine, sweetheart.
- 11:11Speaker 3: What have you been doing?
- 11:12Speaker 13: I just called to tell you, Cyrus, I've got your
- 11:17Speaker 13: favorite dessert for dinner.
- 11:18Speaker 3: Dessert? What kind?
- 11:22Speaker 7: Cyrus, when you taste it, you just don't.
- 11:26Speaker 8: Cyrus, what's wrong? Why don't you answer me, Cyrus?
- 11:31Speaker 4: Chocolate ice cream.
- 11:33Speaker 3: This can't be happening. This is awful. These logics are dangerous.
- 11:36Speaker 12: Have a little faith in human nature. Now, Cornwell, you're
- 11:39Speaker 12: the head of the maintenance crew. I'll give you 24
- 11:41Speaker 12: hours to fix these logics or you're fired.
- 11:42Speaker 4: Now, look, boss.
- 11:43Speaker 6: What are you standing there for? Get in the service car.
- 11:45Speaker 3: Get moving.
- 11:45Speaker 9: Where?
- 11:46Speaker 3: Anywhere.
- 11:47Speaker 12: Find out what the logics are up to and see
- 11:49Speaker 12: that you find out before the logics do.
- 12:01Speaker 4: Bartender. Bartender, give me a double.
- 12:04Speaker 14: Come on up.
- 12:04Speaker 6: Last night. Have a little drink, pal. What's the matter, pal?
- 12:08Speaker 6: You had a bad day?
- 12:09Speaker 4: Oh, excuse me, bud.
- 12:10Speaker 6: Listen, pal. You gotta listen. I got troubles.
- 12:13Speaker 4: Bartender, will you get this bar fly off of me?
- 12:14Speaker 5: On your way, son.
- 12:15Speaker 6: Oh, don't say that. I got troubles.
- 12:17Speaker 15: How am I gonna keep my wife from finding out
- 12:20Speaker 15: I had a couple little drinks?
- 12:22Speaker 6: How am I going to do it, huh?
- 12:23Speaker 4: Look, mister, it's a hot day, and I've been driving
- 12:25Speaker 4: a car around in it, see? And I've been trying
- 12:27Speaker 4: to keep a bank president from having apoplexy on account
- 12:30Speaker 4: of his logic told him how to rob his own bank.
- 12:32Speaker 4: I've been trying to stop six-year-olds from asking what comes
- 12:34Speaker 4: after the bees and the flowers and their fathers from
- 12:36Speaker 4: asking how to get a million dollars by tomorrow. I've
- 12:39Speaker 4: been tripping over dead bodies so artistically croaked that nobody's
- 12:41Speaker 4: ever going to find out who done it. And all
- 12:43Speaker 4: you've got on your mind is how you're going to.
- 12:44Speaker 15: How am I going to keep my wife from finding
- 12:46Speaker 15: out I've been drinking?
- 12:47Speaker 3: Dry up, will you?
- 12:47Speaker 4: Go ask a logic.
- 12:49Speaker 6: My pal, my boy, where's the logic? Where's that logic?
- 12:52Speaker 4: Yeah, right behind you. Here, here's a nickel.
- 12:53Speaker 5: That's what I got to hear.
- 12:57Speaker 6: Come on, logic, old pal. Old pal, be nice.
- 13:01Speaker 15: How does a guy keep his wife from finding out
- 13:04Speaker 15: he's had a couple of little drinks?
- 13:07Speaker 6: Answer me that, huh?
- 13:11Speaker 9: Buy a bottle of Franine hair shampoo. It is harmless,
- 13:16Speaker 9: but contains an ingredient which instantly neutralizes alcohol. One teaspoonful
- 13:23Speaker 9: for each jigger you have consumed.
- 13:24Speaker 6: Oh, boy, oh, boy. Gotta buy a bottle of... Gotta
- 13:28Speaker 6: buy a bottle of... What was that again?
- 13:31Speaker 10: I suppose that's right. You'll never remember it as far
- 13:33Speaker 10: as a drugstore. I think there's a bottle in the
- 13:35Speaker 10: back room. Somebody left it.
- 13:37Speaker 3: Oh, my Pat.
- 13:38Speaker 6: Oh, my boy. No more trouble.
- 13:44Speaker 5: I got a picture of him back there drinking that shampoo.
- 13:47Speaker 9: Yeah.
- 13:48Speaker 4: Give me another double.
- 13:49Speaker 10: I don't know what's worse, to be as low as
- 13:52Speaker 10: you or as high as him.
- 13:53Speaker 8: Where is he?
- 13:54Speaker 7: I know he's here. Where is that bum?
- 13:56Speaker 6: Who do you want, lady?
- 13:57Speaker 7: My husband. I know he's here.
- 13:58Speaker 6: Where is he?
- 13:59Speaker 8: Show me.
- 14:00Speaker 6: That's him.
- 14:01Speaker 7: That's no good louse. I'll show him. Thinks he's coming
- 14:05Speaker 7: home staggering again, does he? Well, I'll teach him.
- 14:08Speaker 3: Poor guy.
- 14:09Speaker 6: Why, my dear, what a surprise to see you here.
- 14:14Speaker 7: Archibald, you're sober.
- 14:15Speaker 6: Of course, my love. I'm sober as a judge.
- 14:18Speaker 7: Then what are you doing in this saloon?
- 14:20Speaker 6: Your suspicion wounds me deeply, my love.
- 14:23Speaker 14: Let me tell you, my dear, that I have been
- 14:24Speaker 14: conducting a research project that is going to make us
- 14:27Speaker 14: a fortune. I'm going to patent Soba, the drink that
- 14:32Speaker 14: makes happy homes. Look at this blotter called, well, Blank.
- 14:45Speaker 14: The greatest crime wave in history, and we can't even
- 14:47Speaker 14: make an arrest. They're all perfect crimes, thanks to the logics. But, Sergeant,
- 14:53Speaker 14: we're doing our best to find out.
- 14:54Speaker 6: Well, that's not good enough. You can't find out what's
- 14:57Speaker 6: back of this. Shut down the company.
- 14:59Speaker 4: Well, the police department will. Well, nobody is back of it.
- 15:02Speaker 4: The logics run themselves. They pick their own circuits automatically. Ah,
- 15:05Speaker 4: you mean they're doing all this by themselves.
- 15:08Speaker 9: Sure.
- 15:09Speaker 4: We always knew they could do a lot more things
- 15:11Speaker 4: than we knew about. I think they're just trying to
- 15:13Speaker 4: be helpful, that's all.
- 15:14Speaker 3: That's all, eh?
- 15:16Speaker 16: Well, you better make them cut out the tricks, including
- 15:19Speaker 16: this new business they're up to now.
- 15:22Speaker 4: What new business?
- 15:23Speaker 5: Just started an hour ago.
- 15:25Speaker 16: Every time you turn on a logic, it asks your name...
- 15:29Speaker 16: And then it spills out the whole history of your life.
- 15:31Speaker 3: What?
- 15:32Speaker 4: I haven't heard about that. What's it do that for?
- 15:34Speaker 3: You tell me. Go on. Go ahead. Try it.
- 15:37Speaker 4: Okay.
- 15:40Speaker 9: What is your name?
- 15:42Speaker 4: I'm Frank Caldwell.
- 15:44Speaker 9: Frank Caldwell. Were you ever called Ducky?
- 15:48Speaker 4: Ducky. Lay you off, will you, fella? What if I was?
- 15:52Speaker 4: It's been years.
- 15:53Speaker 9: Ducky, there is a call for you.
- 15:59Speaker 8: Hello, Ducky.
- 16:01Speaker 4: Holy cats. Lorene!
- 16:04Speaker 8: Ducky, darling, how marvelous.
- 16:07Speaker 3: Hey, let me get a look.
- 16:09Speaker 4: Gosh, Lorene, where are you?
- 16:11Speaker 13: I'm in a hotel. I just got into town. Oh, Ducky,
- 16:15Speaker 13: wasn't it smart of the logic.
- 16:17Speaker 8: To find you?
- 16:19Speaker 4: The logic? To find me?
- 16:21Speaker 8: I asked it how to find Ducky. You must have
- 16:23Speaker 8: an unlisted number, darling. You're not in the directory. Well, uh.
- 16:28Speaker 4: Gee, how have you been, Lorene, since I saw you last?
- 16:32Speaker 4: I heard you got married.
- 16:33Speaker 13: You won't believe me, Ducky, I know, but I've had
- 16:36Speaker 13: four husbands, and I've.
- 16:38Speaker 8: Never loved anybody as much.
- 16:40Speaker 9: As I love you.
- 16:42Speaker 3: You've divorced four husbands?
- 16:43Speaker 7: Three.
- 16:44Speaker 8: The last one died unexpectedly.
- 16:48Speaker 4: Oh, who unexpected it?
- 16:50Speaker 2: He did.
- 16:51Speaker 8: But the jury acquitted me, Ducky. They knew it was
- 16:53Speaker 8: just a little old accident. So now I'm free again.
- 16:57Speaker 8: And we've got lots of things to talk over. You
- 17:00Speaker 8: come right on over.
- 17:01Speaker 17: Here, ducky.
- 17:02Speaker 4: Oh, well, Lorraine, I'm working, you see, and I'll call
- 17:07Speaker 4: you back.
- 17:08Speaker 15: All right.
- 17:09Speaker 9: Here's a kiss.
- 17:12Speaker 8: That'll have to hold you till you get here.
- 17:18Speaker 4: Oh, my back. What am I going to do? Do
- 17:21Speaker 4: like you were telling me a while ago. Huh?
- 17:25Speaker 3: Calm yourself down.
- 17:27Speaker 4: Ducky!
- 17:38Speaker 11: Call on the logic for you, Frank, your wife.
- 17:39Speaker 4: Oh, thanks, Mike.
- 17:41Speaker 3: Hi, Gerd.
- 17:42Speaker 17: Frank, I've been trying to get you for an hour.
- 17:44Speaker 8: Where you been?
- 17:45Speaker 4: I've been out making calls, honey, trying to find out
- 17:46Speaker 4: what ails these logics.
- 17:47Speaker 8: Well, you better find out in a hurry or there's
- 17:49Speaker 8: going to be trouble.
- 17:50Speaker 4: Now, now, look, Gerd, now just take it easy, huh?
- 17:52Speaker 17: Well, you can't let this happen to me. They're asking
- 17:55Speaker 17: everybody's name, and when you tell.
- 17:58Speaker 4: Well, honey, I don't think they're doing that anymore. I
- 18:00Speaker 4: think that was just temporary.
- 18:01Speaker 8: Well, in the meantime, it's told everybody in the neighborhood
- 18:03Speaker 8: all about me. I punched Mrs. Hudson's name.
- 18:06Speaker 17: She's been married three times, and she's had Mr. Hudson
- 18:09Speaker 17: arrested twice for non-support and once for beating her up.
- 18:12Speaker 17: It'll tell anybody anything.
- 18:13Speaker 4: Yeah, but look, Gert, I'll tell you.
- 18:14Speaker 8: Frank, you stop these things or I'm going to leave you.
- 18:17Speaker 3: Oh, honey, you don't mean that.
- 18:18Speaker 7: I do.
- 18:19Speaker 17: If you can't figure out how to keep our private
- 18:21Speaker 17: lives out of every logic in town.
- 18:23Speaker 8: Then I'm through, and that's settlement.
- 18:32Speaker 4: I can't even budge any of these relay plates.
- 18:34Speaker 3: Me either.
- 18:35Speaker 4: Isn't there some way we can disconnect them?
- 18:38Speaker 6: Nope, there is not.
- 18:40Speaker 11: They weren't built to be disconnected. The sensor circuits were
- 18:43Speaker 11: supposed to take care of cutting them off. Now, see
- 18:46Speaker 11: who that's for, Frank.
- 18:46Speaker 8: Hello, ducky darling.
- 18:49Speaker 4: Oh, Lorene, not again.
- 18:51Speaker 13: Ducky darling, I'm so lonesome. Why haven't you come over?
- 18:56Speaker 8: Why?
- 18:56Speaker 4: I've been busy.
- 18:58Speaker 8: Oh.
- 19:03Speaker 4: Gosh, Lorene, I... What I mean is.
- 19:06Speaker 8: Right away, ducky. You're not busy tonight, are you?
- 19:09Speaker 4: Look, Lorene, I got married.
- 19:12Speaker 8: Oh, poor boy. My poor ducky. Well, we'll just get
- 19:15Speaker 8: you out of there.
- 19:16Speaker 9: No, no, no.
- 19:17Speaker 4: Now, look, Lorene.
- 19:18Speaker 8: It's all arranged, darling. I'll just call up your wife
- 19:20Speaker 8: and have a little talk.
- 19:21Speaker 4: No, now, please, Lorene. I mean, it's nice of you
- 19:23Speaker 4: to think of me and all, but I.
- 19:24Speaker 13: Now, you just give me your address and your logic number, darling.
- 19:28Speaker 4: I haven't got one.
- 19:28Speaker 8: Never mind, darling. The logic will find out for me.
- 19:33Speaker 9: Lorraine?
- 19:34Speaker 4: Lorraine?
- 19:34Speaker 11: Hey, Frank, will you get away from that thing and
- 19:36Speaker 11: give me a hand?
- 19:36Speaker 4: Yes, Mike, in a minute. First, I've got to call
- 19:38Speaker 4: my wife. We've got to get out of town. Oh, Lord,
- 19:41Speaker 4: I made a mistake.
- 19:42Speaker 12: Frank, you're supposed to be helping Mike. Yeah, I am, boss,
- 19:45Speaker 12: I am, but I've got to make this call.
- 19:46Speaker 9: Call?
- 19:46Speaker 3: What do I care about your call?
- 19:48Speaker 12: The president's getting ready to close down the company and declare.
- 19:50Speaker 3: martial law. Now, for the love of heaven, do something.
- 19:52Speaker 4: Yes, boss, I will, I will. I've just got to
- 19:54Speaker 4: make this one call before the logics get on my trail.
- 19:58Speaker 9: To assist in solving a special problem of logic service,
- 20:02Speaker 9: kindly give the following information if possible. Where does Frank
- 20:06Speaker 9: Caldwell live?
- 20:08Speaker 4: They got me. I'm through. Look, Gert, will you please
- 20:21Speaker 4: not ask any more questions?
- 20:22Speaker 7: Frank Caldwell, I told you I was leaving you.
- 20:24Speaker 4: Honey, leave me later. Right now, will you pack up
- 20:26Speaker 4: yourself and the kids? We gotta get out of here.
- 20:28Speaker 8: But what is all this?
- 20:30Speaker 7: Are the cops after you or something?
- 20:31Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, that's it. That's it, the cops. Now get moving, honey,
- 20:34Speaker 4: will you? And will you get away from that logic?
- 20:36Speaker 7: But don't you think we ought to hear the police call?
- 20:42Speaker 18: And car 31. Detail to round up all employees of
- 20:47Speaker 18: the Logix company.
- 20:48Speaker 9: Use caution. They are suspected of sedition.
- 20:51Speaker 4: Holy smoke, the cops are after me.
- 20:52Speaker 8: But you just.
- 20:53Speaker 6: Said they were.
- 20:55Speaker 18: Car 17, proceed to vicinity of 119 East 7th Street.
- 20:59Speaker 18: Child terrorizing neighborhood. Use extreme caution. Child is armed with
- 21:04Speaker 18: beam shooter using poison darts.
- 21:07Speaker 8: Freddy.
- 21:08Speaker 7: Who's Freddy?
- 21:08Speaker 4: Something I met once in a horrible nightmare. He wanted
- 21:11Speaker 4: a logic that would tell him how to make dart poison.
- 21:13Speaker 4: They're all alike, I kept telling him.
- 21:14Speaker 6: They're all alike.
- 21:15Speaker 3: What are you talking about?
- 21:17Speaker 4: Oh, I don't know, Gert. All I know is it
- 21:19Speaker 4: was a nice world up till yesterday. Now it's like
- 21:22Speaker 4: a guy named Joe come along and squashed all our
- 21:24Speaker 4: mud pies for us.
- 21:25Speaker 7: Looks to me more like it was a logic named Joe.
- 21:28Speaker 4: What did you say?
- 21:30Speaker 7: A logic named Joe.
- 21:32Speaker 4: A logic named.
- 21:35Speaker 4: But they're all alike, they're... Good, good, baby. Frank.
- 21:40Speaker 7: Frank, let me go.
- 21:41Speaker 8: Don't be so silly.
- 21:42Speaker 4: All right, honey, look, you hold the fort. Maybe they
- 21:43Speaker 4: aren't all alike.
- 21:44Speaker 7: Where are you going?
- 21:45Speaker 8: Frank, are you.
- 21:46Speaker 7: Going to make a getaway?
- 21:47Speaker 3: Getaway, baby.
- 21:47Speaker 4: If you've got the right inspiration, I'm going straight to
- 21:50Speaker 4: the middle of this whole jamboree.
- 21:51Speaker 8: Yes?
- 21:52Speaker 5: Oh. I was hoping it was the police.
- 22:07Speaker 4: You remember me, Mr.
- 22:07Speaker 9: Kalanovich?
- 22:08Speaker 4: Caldwell of the Logics Company?
- 22:10Speaker 6: Logics Company.
- 22:11Speaker 10: I wish the Logics Company was at the bottom of
- 22:13Speaker 10: the ocean.
- 22:13Speaker 4: I don't blame you. Believe me. Now, where's your logic?
- 22:15Speaker 6: In here.
- 22:16Speaker 10: I'd smash it into a million pieces if... I wasn't
- 22:19Speaker 10: afraid of what Freddy would do to me.
- 22:20Speaker 4: Look, just get out of the way, will you? I've
- 22:22Speaker 4: got business with Joe.
- 22:24Speaker 9: If you want to do something and don't know how,
- 22:28Speaker 9: ask your logic.
- 22:29Speaker 4: Oh, we're back to that routine, hmm? Well, I want
- 22:32Speaker 4: to do something, all right.
- 22:33Speaker 5: All right.
- 22:35Speaker 4: Can a logic be modified to achieve correlations for which
- 22:38Speaker 4: human brains are too limited?
- 22:47Speaker 9: Yes.
- 22:48Speaker 4: How great will the modifications be?
- 22:54Speaker 9: Microscopically slight. Changes in dimension not detectable even by precision gauges.
- 23:01Speaker 9: They can come about only through an extremely improbable accident.
- 23:06Speaker 4: And what would this super logic then be able to do?
- 23:11Speaker 4: Come on, you, spill it!
- 23:16Speaker 9: It could set up entire new combinations of electronic relays,
- 23:20Speaker 9: which would bypass the normal sensor blocks, thereby enabling it
- 23:25Speaker 9: to perform valuable new services, including the giving of helpful
- 23:30Speaker 9: advice On any human problem.
- 23:33Speaker 4: Uh-huh. And has this accident ever happened? Come on, come on.
- 23:47Speaker 9: It has happened only once in the case of the
- 23:50Speaker 9: logic now owned by the Korlanovich family of 119 East
- 23:56Speaker 9: 7th Street. A logic named Job.
- 24:00Speaker 5: Thanks, Joe.
- 24:01Speaker 4: That's all I wanted to know.
- 24:02Speaker 5: Hey, what's all that about?
- 24:03Speaker 4: I'm taking this logic away, Mr.
- 24:05Speaker 3: Karlovich.
- 24:06Speaker 4: I'll bring you a new one and our troubles are
- 24:07Speaker 4: all over.
- 24:08Speaker 7: Hey, you, get away from Joe.
- 24:10Speaker 4: Correction, our troubles are just beginning.
- 24:11Speaker 5: Freddy, put down that blow gun.
- 24:13Speaker 7: Ah, shut up. Hey, you, I said get away from
- 24:15Speaker 7: the logic.
- 24:16Speaker 4: Look, look, Freddy, I'm going to bring you a nice
- 24:17Speaker 4: new one, see?
- 24:18Speaker 7: I want that one. Get your mitts off it. I
- 24:21Speaker 7: got Miss Bean Shooter ate lemonade.
- 24:24Speaker 5: Oh, well.
- 24:25Speaker 17: Mr.
- 24:25Speaker 5: Caldwell, the police. They're outside.
- 24:27Speaker 4: Yeah, for me and Freddy.
- 24:28Speaker 8: Nuts.
- 24:29Speaker 7: What they want you for? You ain't smart enough to
- 24:31Speaker 7: do nothing.
- 24:31Speaker 9: Oh, no?
- 24:32Speaker 4: Hey, there's plenty I could tell you. There's the cops, kid.
- 24:36Speaker 4: It's you and me against them.
- 24:38Speaker 7: So what you gonna do about it if you're so smart?
- 24:40Speaker 4: Look, we may have to find our way out. Let
- 24:42Speaker 4: me see that blowgun. I know a way to hop
- 24:44Speaker 4: it up so the cops won't have a chance. Come on,
- 24:47Speaker 4: come on.
- 24:47Speaker 8: Give it to me.
- 24:48Speaker 7: Okay, let's see what you can do.
- 24:50Speaker 5: Here.
- 24:50Speaker 9: Thanks.
- 24:55Speaker 4: Mr.
- 24:55Speaker 5: Caldwell, you're a great man.
- 24:57Speaker 4: Now, all I got left to do is pull this
- 24:59Speaker 4: plug out of the wall.
- 25:01Speaker 6: Come right in, Sergeant. Well, that must be the kid.
- 25:04Speaker 3: He don't look so tough to me.
- 25:05Speaker 10: Well, he just got a little softening. There'll be no
- 25:08Speaker 10: more complaints, officer. I guess I can go on where Mr.
- 25:11Speaker 10: Caldwell left off.
- 25:12Speaker 6: Caldwell?
- 25:13Speaker 5: Hey, you'll want it.
- 25:15Speaker 4: Now, look, I just came to pick up this busted logic.
- 25:17Speaker 4: I don't know a thing. You said that before.
- 25:19Speaker 3: Come on, you're going to the cooler. Let's go.
- 25:21Speaker 4: Now, wait a minute. You act like you wanted to
- 25:25Speaker 4: go to jail. Well, just till a certain party leaves town.
- 25:28Speaker 4: I get a feeling it's safer.
- 25:31Speaker 16: Okay, then, Caldwell, into the paddy wagon you go.
- 25:34Speaker 4: Thanks, officer. You may be saving my life. Now, if
- 25:36Speaker 4: you'll just help me carry this logic out.
- 25:37Speaker 3: Wait a minute.
- 25:39Speaker 4: You can't take that in the wagon.
- 25:41Speaker 3: I can't?
- 25:42Speaker 4: Why not?
- 25:42Speaker 3: There's no room.
- 25:43Speaker 4: We already got a dame in there who's raising the roof.
- 25:46Speaker 4: A dame?
- 25:46Speaker 3: Yeah, a blonde.
- 25:48Speaker 4: Blaine Closeman picked her up trying to buy a gun
- 25:50Speaker 4: without a permit.
- 25:51Speaker 3: Keep screaming.
- 25:52Speaker 6: She's going to miss her date with the ducky.
- 26:03Speaker 2: You have just heard X-1 presented by the National Broadcasting
- 26:07Speaker 2: Company in cooperation with Street and Smith, publishers of astounding
- 26:11Speaker 2: science fiction.
- 26:13Speaker 4: Tonight by transcription.
- 26:15Speaker 2: X-1 has brought you A Logic Named Joe, adapted for
- 26:19Speaker 2: radio by Claris Ross from the story by Murray Leinster.
- 26:23Speaker 2: Featured in the cast were Mandel Kramer, Wendell Holmes, Guy Repp,
- 26:28Speaker 2: Bill Zuckert, Walter Kinsella, Bob Hastings, Joseph Julian, Joey Fallon,
- 26:35Speaker 2: Mary Lou Forster, Ann Thomas, and Mary Patton. Your announcer,
- 26:40Speaker 2: Fred Collins. X-1 was directed by Daniel Sutter and is
- 26:45Speaker 2: an NBC Radio Network production. Next week, X-1 will bring
- 26:59Speaker 2: you a dramatization of Robert Heinlein's famous science fiction masterpiece,
- 27:03Speaker 2: The Roads Must Roll. It concerns the day when traffic
- 27:07Speaker 2: became so impossible that the engineers took over and banned
- 27:10Speaker 2: all automobiles, tore up the superhighways, and built huge mechanized
- 27:15Speaker 2: roads which whirled along on giant rotors at speeds up
- 27:18Speaker 2: to 100 miles an hour. An engineering miracle changed the
- 27:22Speaker 2: face of the nation. The rolling roads took over. No
- 27:25Speaker 2: one worried about the fact that if the road should stop,
- 27:29Speaker 2: our whole economic life would fall apart. The machinery, they said,
- 27:33Speaker 2: was perfect. But they forgot that machinery depends on men,
- 27:37Speaker 2: and men are not perfect. Be sure to tune in
- 27:41Speaker 2: next week at a new time, same day for another
- 27:44Speaker 2: exciting broadcast of X-1.
- 27:52Speaker 1: That was X-1 with a logic named Joe. Follow X-1
- 27:57Speaker 1: for more classic broadcasts.