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Speaker 1: Patreon supporters Patreon dot great Detectives dot net. Now it's
Speaker 1: time for today's episode of not Beat. I should mention
Speaker 1: that not Beat is entering kind of a dead zone
Speaker 1: where lost episodes really mean. We don't have very many
Speaker 1: episodes from this era. Between the fiftieth and ninety second
Speaker 1: episodes of not Beat, we have a grand total of
Speaker 1: four episodes that are available, so more than ninety percent missing.
Speaker 1: This one aired only five weeks after the previous one.
Speaker 1: The original air date on it is August the seventeenth
Speaker 1: of nineteen fifty one, and the title is they.
Speaker 2: NBC presents Frank Lovejoy in.
Speaker 3: Night Hi, this is Randy Stone. I cover the Nightbeat
Speaker 3: for the Chicago Star only tonight. It was too hot
Speaker 3: to cover anything, and I mean anything. It was too
Speaker 3: hot for wife killings, ganglin murders and such nonsense. Nobody
Speaker 3: had energy for much more than the wave of soggy
Speaker 3: newspaper back and forth in front of his face. And
Speaker 3: the standard reply to the standard question what's cooking? Was
Speaker 3: a dull me around ten o'clock with no story inside.
Speaker 3: I checked in with the office and the switchbird girl
Speaker 3: sounded like the last rows of last summer, but she
Speaker 3: managed to inform me that mister Baker, the night editor,
Speaker 3: wanted words with me. As she wearily connected me, I
Speaker 3: dug out my handkerchief and blotted the back of my neck.
Speaker 3: It's dom yeah, climbing year.
Speaker 4: Old Gillappia, and take her right out to the insane.
Speaker 3: Asylum and they got air conditioning.
Speaker 2: Oh, I'm serious.
Speaker 4: Is a report that a half a dozen police cars
Speaker 4: are parking at the entrance.
Speaker 2: I called a check, but the switchboard doesn't answer. Beat
Speaker 2: it up there, Randy.
Speaker 3: I headed for the outskirts of town, and soon I
Speaker 3: was approaching my destination. I guess the way the world's
Speaker 3: been spinning around, a lot of people are getting lost
Speaker 3: in the fog. Because this place was really big. Half
Speaker 3: a dozen huge buildings spread out across acres of greenland,
Speaker 3: and a mighty high fence running all the way around.
Speaker 3: But even while I was still blocks away, I knew
Speaker 3: something was wrong because though it was only around ten o'clock,
Speaker 3: in all those buildings there wasn't one light burning. I
Speaker 3: drove up to the gate, and yet they were police cars,
Speaker 3: and the police sergeant with the red flashlight signaled me
Speaker 3: to was stuck.
Speaker 2: What's your business, cousin.
Speaker 3: I'm a newspaper man, Randy Stone of a star.
Speaker 2: They're not buying any newspapers tonight. Got all the newspapers
Speaker 2: they need. All fine.
Speaker 3: Now you and your flashlights step aside.
Speaker 2: Now go on in.
Speaker 3: No one goes in, no one goes out orders, and
Speaker 3: you get on that gate phone, cousin, until the superintendent
Speaker 3: the press is pounding at the walls. And if I
Speaker 3: don't get in, I'm going back to town and invent
Speaker 3: a story. When I start inventing, sometimes I just never stop. Well,
Speaker 3: go ahead, cousin. When the sarge hung up the phone,
Speaker 3: he swung open the gates and waved me in with
Speaker 3: his pretty red flashlight, saying that I was to go
Speaker 3: right onto the administration building. As I drove up the
Speaker 3: curved roadway, I saw little shafts of light moving through
Speaker 3: the darkness all over the place, but still no lights
Speaker 3: anyplace else. I parked in front of the administration building
Speaker 3: and was met by a man also carrying a flashlight.
Speaker 3: That man, this is my name, a public relations officer.
Speaker 3: Oh what's going on here? It is rather embarrassing. You know,
Speaker 3: I'm quite sure they'll find him in a minute. Now
Speaker 3: find who The superintendent thinks it would be best if
Speaker 3: you talk to Fugati. Oh this week rising here the
Speaker 3: first age room. Easy, easy, easy with this chapter. Having
Speaker 3: his head bandaged. This is mister Stone, a newspaper reports,
Speaker 3: But I thought, well, the superintendent feels it's pointless to
Speaker 3: try and hide the facts in the longer.
Speaker 2: They caught Captain Bob, yet they.
Speaker 3: Expect you in a moment. I take it one of
Speaker 3: the inmates is escape. No, no, not really, he's still
Speaker 3: on the grounds. That's what we don't want. No alarming
Speaker 3: story about an escaped maniac.
Speaker 2: Maniac. Yeah a doc doc easy with a bandage, harder
Speaker 2: work with just a flashlight. Yeah, Captain Bob. That kills me,
Speaker 2: absolutely kills me. He's the artificial mayor of this place,
Speaker 2: a real veteran. Once he even applied by hash marks
Speaker 2: and service stars. And then the blow is top like this,
Speaker 2: easy doc man. Almost a huge man with a mind
Speaker 2: of a child, A gentle giant.
Speaker 3: You might say, gentle what caused he blow up?
Speaker 2: What caused it? Yeah, that's a reasonable question. We took
Speaker 2: away his brown sugar, his witch. He kept it in
Speaker 2: his foot locker for his oatmeal. Well, they were afraid
Speaker 2: of roaches, you know, so they kept asking him to
Speaker 2: turn it in Today. They got tired of him ignoring him,
Speaker 2: so they sent me around. He was all by himself
Speaker 2: in a warden, this giant of a man, sitting on
Speaker 2: his bed and his gym shoes and his red bathroom.
Speaker 2: Captain Bob, Captain Bob.
Speaker 3: Brow.
Speaker 2: That was splendid. That was splendid. Wasn't that splendid? Fog Yeah?
Speaker 2: Sure you know what? All in the diaphragm. It's right
Speaker 2: down here, the diaphragm, you see. Hell, how many times
Speaker 2: did I tell him, Enrico, if you only breathe properly
Speaker 2: and forgot the chicken, open your foot lock a, captain,
Speaker 2: And why the brown sugar? It's gotta go? Oh jurns okay, swoot,
Speaker 2: okay it myself, hold it? Dono's the lid? Oh goodbye,
Speaker 2: mister fogerty. Look I got my orders. Just stop that racket,
Speaker 2: will you. They gave me artist to take that sugar.
Speaker 2: Repeat that slowly, mister foy, I said, they gave me away,
Speaker 2: gave you orders there again. They know that brown sugar
Speaker 2: is the very essence of my power, so they must
Speaker 2: take it away from me. Now, come on, captain, how
Speaker 2: long ago was that did they decided I could no
Speaker 2: longer have my fine gold leaf tobacca plug. And wasn't
Speaker 2: it only last year that they made me shave my beard?
Speaker 2: Walt used to say to me, Walt Quitman, that is sure.
Speaker 2: Mine's a decent sort of beard. But yours, Captain Bobe,
Speaker 2: yours is pure silk, and they made me shave it. Cap,
Speaker 2: you're getting all excited. It's too hot to get excited.
Speaker 2: I've set back. I've bided my time. I've waited, and
Speaker 2: now I wait no longer. Cap, hands laugh of me. Forward,
Speaker 2: Cap sit down, No, no, don't make me use the
Speaker 2: night stick. I haven't used it yet. I haven't want to. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but I want to give it to me. Look out,
Speaker 2: get away from me a night stick. No, you must,
Speaker 2: you must. There are struck, There are struck struck, there
Speaker 2: are has struck. That's the last thing in the world
Speaker 2: I heard. Then I will loop up down here. I
Speaker 2: understand he's really raised. Kine broke into the power station,
Speaker 2: banged up the generator, Captain Bob. You just don't figure.
Speaker 3: Well, I don't suppose that one guy with a night
Speaker 3: stick is gonna do too much damage. Well, it's not
Speaker 3: quite that simple. Now he took the night stick and
Speaker 3: overpowered an armed guard, and now he has a gun.
Speaker 3: All fine, and that's why we've gone to such great
Speaker 3: links to protect the place.
Speaker 2: Huh.
Speaker 3: I'll answer this day that he speaks of he must
Speaker 3: mean the authorities here.
Speaker 2: Is that it? Oh? I don't think so. At least
Speaker 2: he hasn't tried to harm any of them, and with
Speaker 2: that gun he could do a pretty good job.
Speaker 3: Well, then who is the they?
Speaker 2: Your guess is as good as mine. I see that
Speaker 2: is one of the guards.
Speaker 3: The superintendent saw your car and raised the roof. Well,
Speaker 3: he told me I could come in, yes, but not
Speaker 3: the car. He wants nothing on the grounds that could
Speaker 3: possibly be used by Captain Bob and escape. He want
Speaker 3: you to remove the car immediately. You can park it
Speaker 3: in the parking area outside the wall. I went on
Speaker 3: out and started driving back down the road to the gate.
Speaker 3: The little groups with flashlights were still scattered all about,
Speaker 3: hunting for Captain Bob. But who was Captain Bob hunting for? Him.
Speaker 3: My friend, the police sergeant was still at the gate
Speaker 3: with his little red flashlight again, signaling me to stop
Speaker 3: you again, cousin, I'm just gonna park the car, be
Speaker 3: right back. What's that supposed to be good news?
Speaker 2: Go on?
Speaker 3: I passed the squad car scattered all over the place.
Speaker 3: The parking area was just ahead, and I started turning
Speaker 3: into it. I suddenly fell a metallic pressure on my neck,
Speaker 3: the barrel of a gun.
Speaker 2: Just keep going down the highway, my boy, and everything
Speaker 2: will beat Jim Dandy.
Speaker 3: I could see him in the rear view mirror, bright
Speaker 3: eyes on the shaggy gray brows, a bald head, and
Speaker 3: a full pink face, and even bigger than they had
Speaker 3: described him. Yes, I had myself a first class passenger
Speaker 3: and one and only Captain Bob.
Speaker 2: No, isn't an immortal sin the way old cap'n Bob
Speaker 2: twisted him all around his little finger. Huh Yeah, mental power?
Speaker 2: You know, ten ounces of brain tissue can move mountains,
Speaker 2: dry oceans, fill the sky with fire.
Speaker 3: Yeah, ten ounces. Sure, But me, I'm stuck with about
Speaker 3: half a gram. Falling for a gag like that, How
Speaker 3: where'd you call from?
Speaker 2: One of the other officers keeping my voice very low,
Speaker 2: very official. The superintendent insists that the car be moved
Speaker 2: at once. See Ellen used to I used to say
Speaker 2: to Ellen, you're the famous actress Ellen Drew. You know, Ellen,
Speaker 2: you must always remember live the part. If you're supposed
Speaker 2: to be an oyster stew, then become an oyster stew.
Speaker 2: Make it so real that people get heartburn. Captain Bob,
Speaker 2: she would reply, And that's sweet, gentle voice. What would
Speaker 2: I do without you? Well, that's very interesting.
Speaker 3: Now that you've outsmarted all the guards. What's the next
Speaker 3: step to.
Speaker 2: Ruthlessly hunt down and exterminate humanity's greatest enemy? Which is
Speaker 2: who were they?
Speaker 3: They?
Speaker 2: Well? Who else? Those scavengers, those ravagers. I really don't
Speaker 2: care about myself. I've lived my years. I'm an old man,
Speaker 2: heavy with honor and with time. Aristophanes, Uh huh, of
Speaker 2: course you know I'm quite insane. Oh, yes, yes, so
Speaker 2: it doesn't matter about me. See others, Oh what they
Speaker 2: have done the poor suffering humanity. I've heard the talk. Oh, yes,
Speaker 2: surely I have. You know, of course I can hear
Speaker 2: quite distinctly for a distance of some twenty three hundred miles. Oh, certainly,
Speaker 2: with the proper atmospheric conditions. Ah, And very often late
Speaker 2: at night, I lie there in my bed listening to
Speaker 2: the people talking in oh San Francisco and Houston, and
Speaker 2: Memphis and Upper New York State and such places. And
Speaker 2: what do I hear? They are causing prices to rise
Speaker 2: sky high. They buy more than they need, They hoard
Speaker 2: in their basements. They patronize a black market. They are
Speaker 2: so selfish, so thoughtless, they may bring on inflation and
Speaker 2: wipe out the savings and pensions of millions of innocent people.
Speaker 2: That's what I hear. And this I hear. They certainly
Speaker 2: elect some shabby politicians, but what can you expect. Most
Speaker 2: of the time they don't even bother to vote. If
Speaker 2: they don't use some judgment, they'll wreck the country. They again,
Speaker 2: You see that, Yes, I see it. Yes, And I
Speaker 2: hear talk about w too. They fell asleep again. If
Speaker 2: they don't wake up and prepare, civilization itself will go under.
Speaker 2: And they'll beat the blame. They they they they do this,
Speaker 2: and they do that. All the evil and suffering in
Speaker 2: the world they are responsible for. They well, and isn't
Speaker 2: it all rather simple? Oh, Captain Bob's gonna do the
Speaker 2: world one final service. He's gonna find these they and
Speaker 2: shoot them done like dogs.
Speaker 3: That sounds like a reasonable idea.
Speaker 2: Yes, of course, of course. I so you sign on
Speaker 2: your license plate, your newspaper man. Well then you must
Speaker 2: know where they live. You'll be able to bring me
Speaker 2: to them.
Speaker 3: Well, I suppose so, but it might take a long time.
Speaker 2: Can not takeing any longer than from Nodus seven o'clock
Speaker 2: tomorrow morning. Well, I have to be back at the
Speaker 2: asylum by then for breakfast. Missus Turner, the cook. She
Speaker 2: takes great pains preparing the oatmeal to my complete satisfaction.
Speaker 3: Oh well, in that case, why are you turning the
Speaker 3: car around? Well, that's all the time we got. Let's
Speaker 3: call it off for tonight and get an early start
Speaker 3: tomorrow evening, say around six.
Speaker 2: I see, now you've decided to trick Captain Bob.
Speaker 3: No, no, not at all. But if you're expected for.
Speaker 2: Breakfast, go over to the curse.
Speaker 3: I'm not trying to trick.
Speaker 2: At the present angle of my gun, the bullet should
Speaker 2: under your skull at the basil juncture, you will lose
Speaker 2: consciousness within one second, be dead within three. Okay, now
Speaker 2: you talking me into it, all right? No turn off
Speaker 2: the engine. Yep, it was a mistake to tell you
Speaker 2: I was insane. Now you think I'm on a harmless
Speaker 2: old fool, not at all. Oh, of course you do.
Speaker 2: But I'm not harmless, Sarah. I need your help. So
Speaker 2: I suppose I must convince you that I will not
Speaker 2: hesitate to use this gun if you force me.
Speaker 3: I believe you.
Speaker 2: Oh no, of course you don't. This strange weapon? Is
Speaker 2: it not a chunk of ore twisted into a vulgar shape?
Speaker 2: Yet it's made man supreme?
Speaker 3: Oh not, come on? Put down the gun. Captain shooting
Speaker 3: me won't help you?
Speaker 2: Who said anything about you? My boy? Observe?
Speaker 3: But pointing it at your hand, don't you've torn away
Speaker 3: half your finger?
Speaker 2: That's all right, I have others.
Speaker 3: Let me use his handkerchief as a torny. No, no trickery.
Speaker 3: Now come on here, Okay, I've got to pull it tight,
Speaker 3: all right?
Speaker 2: All right, now that's better.
Speaker 3: What a thing to do.
Speaker 2: Now you understand how serious I am about this. Obviously,
Speaker 2: if I can use the gun on myself, I wouldn't
Speaker 2: hesitate to use the gun on you if I felt
Speaker 2: you were trying to fool me. So take me into
Speaker 2: the city and let's hunt the rescals down. Yeah. One
Speaker 2: thing more, sir, Yeah, there can be trickery by omission.
Speaker 2: If you think you can drive me around in meaningless circles,
Speaker 2: will let me hasten to assure you that if we
Speaker 2: haven't found them by breakfast, well then I know you
Speaker 2: fool me and I will kill you.
Speaker 5: NBC is bringing you Nightbeat, starring Frank Lovejoy as Randy Stone.
Speaker 5: It's the Silver Jubilee on NBC Tonight. Your dial is
Speaker 5: set for Adventure with Inspector Thorn and mister Keen Tracer
Speaker 5: of Lost Persons. This evening, actor Carl Weber comes to
Speaker 5: the NBC microphone as the fast moving police investigator known
Speaker 5: as Inspector Thorn and later mister Keen Tracer of Lost Persons,
Speaker 5: brings you the heart hitting story of the poisoned Sandwich
Speaker 5: murder case. Now back to Nightbeat and Randy Stone.
Speaker 3: It was after one o'clock and I was driving through
Speaker 3: the Chicago streets, block after deserted flock. The Neon that
Speaker 3: Never went to sleep, still shouting its multi colored messages
Speaker 3: to empty sidewalks, past long rows of warehouses, wearily leaning
Speaker 3: one against the other, and through narrow cobblestones streets, driving
Speaker 3: purposefully like I had nothing but jumbo sized plans, while
Speaker 3: actually I didn't even have a small pocket sized idea.
Speaker 3: And Captain Bob in the back seat with his gun,
Speaker 3: growing more impatient all the time. And now it was
Speaker 3: almost two am, and in my mind's eye I saw
Speaker 3: the good cook what's her name, sleeping soundly and just
Speaker 3: a few hours away from starting the Captain's oat meal.
Speaker 3: And now we were getting close to the loop. I
Speaker 3: turned off Ashland Avenue to cross the bridge spanning the
Speaker 3: Chicago River, and at the other side of the bridge,
Speaker 3: I saw a most wonderful sight two police cars blocking
Speaker 3: the way, their red warning lights blinking angrily.
Speaker 2: Turned around quickly, my boy, and.
Speaker 3: Suddenly, in the rear view myrr eye saw still another
Speaker 3: police car swing in behind us. We were caught on
Speaker 3: the bridge, trapped like a butterfly on a half dozen
Speaker 3: spears of light.
Speaker 2: What, Captain Bob, I'm turning the matter over in my mind.
Speaker 2: That you're strong, right, all right? It slowly, man, mister Stone.
Speaker 2: Tell him how comfortable the skun feels against your head?
Speaker 3: Hat Hell, lieutenant, take it easy. Captain Bob has sort
Speaker 3: of got me covered. Captain Bob hear me?
Speaker 2: Can I hear him? I've heard Brisbane, Australia on a
Speaker 2: very calm night. Can I hear him? You don't hear me?
Speaker 2: Captain Bob?
Speaker 3: He hears you, but he's not impressed. Cap. What do
Speaker 3: you want them to do?
Speaker 2: Clear off the bridge so we can get on with
Speaker 2: our chore. It's getting late.
Speaker 3: Look, Cap, I'm going to be frank with you, and
Speaker 3: if you want to pull the trigger, well, my insurance
Speaker 3: is paid up.
Speaker 2: Well what is it, my boy?
Speaker 3: I don't have any idea where they may be. Oh,
Speaker 3: it's true, but you take the lieutenant now, it's his
Speaker 3: job to know those things. I bet he could tell
Speaker 3: us where they are.
Speaker 2: Just like that, all right, call him over and ask him.
Speaker 3: Oh no, no, we can't do it that way. If
Speaker 3: he knows that you want to find out about they
Speaker 3: just to kill him. Why he'll never tell us?
Speaker 2: Well why not? For goodness sake?
Speaker 3: Well he just won't. He's a funny guy. So well,
Speaker 3: so let me go over and talk to him, you know,
Speaker 3: call him around, wheel it out of him.
Speaker 2: You think you can, my boy, Yes, I think so.
Speaker 3: I've known him for many years. He's not very bright.
Speaker 2: Oh, I could tell that from his voice. He does
Speaker 2: all this talking from his jowls. So I'll go over
Speaker 2: and ask him. Huh, you, you wouldn't be fooling an
Speaker 2: old man with a sore finger. Scout's on her, captain,
Speaker 2: all right, call that young policeman over there, the one
Speaker 2: that's leading on the finger of the squad car.
Speaker 3: Oh him, oh, oh him. He's an old cousin.
Speaker 2: Of Yeah, call him over if you want to talk
Speaker 2: to the lieutenant.
Speaker 3: Hey, sarge me, come on over.
Speaker 2: You not to something?
Speaker 3: Send him over, Lieutenant Roger, go on, cousin. The minute
Speaker 3: I saw you tonight, I knew I'd have been better
Speaker 3: off with.
Speaker 2: Typhoid, both of us. Now, I tell you what I'd
Speaker 2: like for you to do, young man. You just lean
Speaker 2: your head in through the window. What is do?
Speaker 3: What he says, I've got to go talk to the lieutenant.
Speaker 2: Now we take the gun from mister Stone's head and
Speaker 2: place it against yours. Hey, all right, mister Stone, go
Speaker 2: to your conference. They dashboard clock says seven minutes after two.
Speaker 2: If you have not returned by ten minutes after two,
Speaker 2: this unfortunate young man will meet with sudden disaster. Stone,
Speaker 2: I don't like this.
Speaker 3: No one could blame you, don't. I started walking across
Speaker 3: the bridge to the lieutenant's patrol car. A long string
Speaker 3: of coal barges were slithering slowly by on the greasy
Speaker 3: waters far below. Now, whatever unknown radar awakens people out
Speaker 3: of a sound sleep and sends them running to disaster
Speaker 3: was already at work. Both ends of the bridge were
Speaker 3: lined with the curious, and most of the police officers
Speaker 3: were busy keeping them at a distance. Lieutenant Boyle stood
Speaker 3: beside his squad car. Lieutenant, tell me, how did you
Speaker 3: find out that he was with me?
Speaker 2: The sergeant?
Speaker 4: After you lift to park your car and didn't come back,
Speaker 4: he started wondering, checked and found it been a phony
Speaker 4: call that added up. We've been trying to corner you
Speaker 4: all night. What are you gonna do with that character?
Speaker 3: Well, we've got one problem, and it's how to make
Speaker 3: him use up those bullets in his gun. Yeah, but
Speaker 3: now look, I got a crazy thought it might work.
Speaker 3: If it doesn't, well it's my funeral. And as the
Speaker 3: little joke goes, that's not a.
Speaker 2: Figure of speech. All right, what is it?
Speaker 3: You know where the river view is?
Speaker 2: Yeah? That amusement park on the west side. Yeah, what
Speaker 2: are we going to do? Right America around.
Speaker 3: Everything is closed up this time of the night. But
Speaker 3: see if you can get him to cooperate with you.
Speaker 3: Captain Bob is looking for something. He calls. They don't
Speaker 3: ask me to go into that. There's no time.
Speaker 2: But if we work this, welcome back, my boy. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I was telling this lad here that those barges reminds
Speaker 2: me of my river days or the Mississippi. He seemed
Speaker 2: distinctly uninterested.
Speaker 3: I can't imagine why.
Speaker 2: All right now, point the gun at him.
Speaker 3: Yeah, right in the old Basil jundger. That's that's it, cousin.
Speaker 3: I was really sweating you out, Believe me. I was
Speaker 3: tempted to start walking.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, well goodbye. Now did you get the information,
Speaker 2: my boy? Well, you know something. You want to circle
Speaker 2: this date with a red pencil. Cat.
Speaker 3: This is your lucky night. Oh they are all together
Speaker 3: under one roof having a meeting.
Speaker 2: Oh, doubtlessly plotting some new devil.
Speaker 3: Sure, but I know exactly where they are.
Speaker 2: Oh this is grand news. Well, police are leaving for sure.
Speaker 3: I told him you were going to go back to
Speaker 3: the institution like a good, solid citizen, and so I
Speaker 3: shall when I'm finished. But now to the task.
Speaker 2: Ahead, Yeah, to the task ahead.
Speaker 3: It was two forty five am when we pulled up
Speaker 3: before the darkened amusement park, the Ferris Whale silhouetted against
Speaker 3: the dark sky, and the empty seats creaking just a little,
Speaker 3: as though worn out from generations of screaming children. The
Speaker 3: towering wooden structure of the Superbods dipping and rising gracefully
Speaker 3: in the night, and the funhouse in the merry Ground
Speaker 3: and the Tunnel of Love, all sealed up a wilderness
Speaker 3: and potential joy, but now very quiet and painfully lonely,
Speaker 3: an amusement park where no one was being amused. We
Speaker 3: walked down the boardwalk Captain Bob gun in hand and
Speaker 3: Randy stone heart in mouth.
Speaker 2: A strange place for they to be meeting, my boy.
Speaker 3: Well, wouldn't they pick such a place, knowing that no
Speaker 3: one hauld ever think of looking for them here? Well,
Speaker 3: of course, Oh the treachery of them. It's just a
Speaker 3: head now, that little building there.
Speaker 2: Yes is, Oh, the dream of a lifetime reaching fluition.
Speaker 3: It's all boarded up, but you can see the lights
Speaker 3: gleaming through the cracks. Yes, now here is what you've
Speaker 3: got to remember there will be many, many of them.
Speaker 3: They're all armed, and they're on guard. I do not fear, no, no,
Speaker 3: but you want to get as many as you can.
Speaker 2: Oh, yes, indeed, indeed.
Speaker 3: Okay, I keep your voice down. Now you've got to
Speaker 3: start shooting the instant. You go through that door and
Speaker 3: keep shooting as fast as you can. Yes, that is
Speaker 3: if you can shoot fast.
Speaker 2: Well, trust me, you will not be able to separate
Speaker 2: the sound of the shots. Good luck, my boy, Thank you.
Speaker 2: Will you shake my hand? Of course, you've been a
Speaker 2: loyal ally. The time will come when children will sing
Speaker 2: folk songs in your honor. Your statue will stand in
Speaker 2: public parks. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Now, look, I'm going to tear open the door, and
Speaker 3: you rush in and start shooting. Yes, yes, ready, said yeah,
Speaker 3: go After that, things happened rapidly. The park, which it
Speaker 3: seemed so empty, now suddenly filled with police, all running
Speaker 3: toward me. And behind them came the swarms of citizens, again,
Speaker 3: coming in all directions, attracted by the shots.
Speaker 2: A good Workstone, Get the door open, boys, bring them out.
Speaker 3: Through the open door. I looked in on a house
Speaker 3: of mirrors. Most of the mirrors were shattered, now just
Speaker 3: bits of glass hanging from the walls, and Captain Bob
Speaker 3: the empty gun hanging limply in his hand, still looking
Speaker 3: at the wreckage, dazedly realizing at last that he'd been
Speaker 3: shooting in his own reflections.
Speaker 2: Old timer.
Speaker 4: Let's get going easy with him, boy, that's it easy.
Speaker 3: And now the entrance to the House of Mirrors was
Speaker 3: jammed with people craning their necks.
Speaker 2: For a look. Step aside, give us room, overside, folks,
Speaker 2: it's all over, Go on home, Come on one side.
Speaker 3: And while the police tried to clear a path through
Speaker 3: the crowd for a moment to so, Captain Bob and
Speaker 3: I stood face to face.
Speaker 2: Oh you tricked me after all, my boy, it's a
Speaker 2: cruel blow. Captain Bob didn't expect that.
Speaker 3: You come on, all of you.
Speaker 2: I tell you, one side, okay, Captain, let's go here.
Speaker 2: Trick me. You shouldn't have done that to me, my boy,
Speaker 2: You just don't understand.
Speaker 3: And then he was gone. He was back home and
Speaker 3: plenty of time for his oatmeal without brown sugar. But
Speaker 3: even after they took all Captain Bob away, somehow the
Speaker 3: people still hung around the doorway of the House of Mirrors,
Speaker 3: just in case there might be something else to see.
Speaker 3: Their faces reflected endlessly in the broken mirrors, all kinds
Speaker 3: of faces, fat, lean, bright, dull, high and cheekbones, low cheekbones,
Speaker 3: square chins, no chins, white faces, black faces, endless faces,
Speaker 3: millions of faces reflected again and again and again in
Speaker 3: the mirrors. And gradually it dawned on me that perhaps
Speaker 3: I hadn't tricked Captain Bob after all. I guess I
Speaker 3: had brought him to the right place. Because of course
Speaker 3: there's no big mystery about it. These were the they
Speaker 3: all right, that's us, all of us. But if they
Speaker 3: are responsible for the bad, they are also responsible for
Speaker 3: the good. Actually, when you got right down to it,
Speaker 3: to end all the injustices that so angered Captain Bob,
Speaker 3: they need to learn only one thing more, that they
Speaker 3: are the children of God, and that each of them.
Speaker 2: Is his brother's keeper. Wow.
Speaker 3: What a knight? Uh? Our one copy boy, one icebag
Speaker 3: and two aspers huh.
Speaker 5: Night Beat, starring Frank Lovejoy, is produced and directed by
Speaker 5: Warren Lewis to Night's story was written by Larry Marcus
Speaker 5: with music by Robert Armbrewster. The part of Cap was
Speaker 5: played by Bill Conrad Others in Tonight's cast were Paul Dubove,
Speaker 5: Howard mcneer, Frank Gersil and Jeff Corey. Frank Lovejoy can
Speaker 5: currently be seen starring in Warner Brothers Force of Arms.
Speaker 5: Listen next week at this time and every week as
Speaker 5: Randy Stone searches through the city for the strange stories
Speaker 5: waiting for him in the darkness. It's the Silver Jubilee
Speaker 5: on NBC. There's plenty of fun in store for you
Speaker 5: tomorrow night with Inside Bob and Ray. Bob Elliott and
Speaker 5: Ray Goulding, the newest comedy team in radio, bring you
Speaker 5: the light, satire and nonsense sketches designed to display their
Speaker 5: many vocal impressions and impersonations. Here Inside Bob and Ray
Speaker 5: Saturday evening for one full, fun filled hour on NBC.
Speaker 5: Join Inspector Thorn. Next on NBC, this is Andrew J.
Speaker 2: Graham, author of the web surface series Oh and a
Speaker 2: Man and his Wife. You're listening to the great detectives
Speaker 2: of Old Time Radio.
Speaker 1: Welcome back. A tremendous performance from William Conrad and really,
Speaker 1: outside of gun Smoke, I don't think any old time
Speaker 1: radio series gave him a better chance to show what
Speaker 1: he could do as an actor, and it reflects the
Speaker 1: power of radio, because the reason you don't see these
Speaker 1: sort of really rich roles for Bill Conrad and many
Speaker 1: of the other media is he didn't physically fit a
Speaker 1: lot of the tops that television and film really came
Speaker 1: to rely on. On radio, he could perform in any
Speaker 1: role that he could be convincing in, and we're seeing
Speaker 1: it not be that there was such a great variety
Speaker 1: of roles, and I like how he's able to make
Speaker 1: so many of these characters very different. Now there are
Speaker 1: some of the characters he've played that are more of
Speaker 1: the typical hoods and heavies that he played on other series.
Speaker 1: There are so many great memorable roles that he portrayed,
Speaker 1: so many fantastic emotional moments, and this episode I think
Speaker 1: was just another example clearly different from the other characters
Speaker 1: he's played on the series, with a lot of thought
Speaker 1: into creating this character, and it says a lot about
Speaker 1: an actor's work ethic as well as the strength of
Speaker 1: the script that you come in you're going to hear
Speaker 1: in a radio show for half an hour and a
Speaker 1: guest part, not going to be paid a ton of money,
Speaker 1: and probably the episode as far as you know is
Speaker 1: never going to be listened to again, and Conrad you
Speaker 1: not be just went out there time and time again
Speaker 1: and created these unforgettable characters. I also did like the
Speaker 1: closing line of this episode. I should say of Randy's
Speaker 1: column the episode, the closing line of the episode was funny.
Speaker 1: With a lot of the column, it really could be
Speaker 1: Randy Stone's credo. It's the theme of his life and
Speaker 1: in the series as a whole. So a very solid
Speaker 1: episode and again this makes me really wish we had
Speaker 1: more episodes from this period in the series, but we'll
Speaker 1: take what we have and look forward to next week
Speaker 1: and another episode of Nightbeat coming up tomorrow though pursuit.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, do sendra Commons Box thirteen at Greatdetectives
Speaker 1: dot net, follow us on Twitter our Radio Detectives, and
Speaker 1: become one of our friends on Facebook, Facebook, dot com,
Speaker 1: slash Radiodetectives, and check out our YouTube archive YouTube dot
Speaker 1: Greatdetectives dot net. But from Boiseidaho, this is your host,
Speaker 1: Adam Grahamson and off