 suspense and the producer of radio's outstanding theater of thrills the master of mystery and adventure William N. Robeson talent is an elusive and mystifying phenomenon and one of the most curious things about it is that it manifests itself in the most unexpected places one of the most talented sound men in radio broadcasting is Tom Hanley we did not know until recently that he possesses another talent he is an extraordinarily fine writer it is his radio play you were about to hear another talent with whom you have been familiar for years is Jack Carson one of our great comedians and also a fine dramatic actor in a moment he exposes another facet of his quite extensive talents as our storyteller listen listen then as Jack Carson stars in Tom Hanley's terrifying story misfire which begins in exactly one minute now how many of you have heard a doctor lecture on the lining of the stomach and what you're doing to it well you may think this line of gab is only for you why son doctors have been telling Americans this ever since we became a nation like a fella come up to me the other day and asked about that great American Mike think say is it true that Mike once ate a buffalo robe certainly and with the hair on it well why did he do that well you see Mike drank so much whiskey that he destroyed the coat in the stomach and the doctor told him that before he could get well he'd need a new coat for it Mike thought that over and made up his mind that a buffalo robe with hair on it was just the thing so he sat down and swallowed one he could drink any amount of whiskey after that and that's a fact folklore belongs to every nation's legendary past and I guess we Americans have our share of some tall ones and now misfire starring Mr. Jack Carson a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense ground zero somewhere on the deserts we are inside the cab with a bomb this one called jackhammer awaits the impulse from control points 14 miles to the south electronic gossips hum and throb their chatter about the health of the patient suspended 500 feet above the desert floor but the unfeeling machines neglect to mention a human factor this morning an imprint of carelessness a small metal wrench jammed in the track of the electronically controlled door the shift of sand occurs against one of the great steel legs anchored to the desert floor and a brown-backed desert tortoise trundles out for a look at his world a world of sage and sand and space stretching endlessly off into the darkness no man is in sight that is good there have been days of hiding from men but now they have gone and the tortoise tries his morning legs and plans his new day H-1 place I protectors in position and turn back to fireball 55 54 from a hundred loudspeakers miles removed from ground zero the tape recorded voice begins its countdown no margin for error now no turning back test shot jackhammer is underway 42 41 a mile and a half from ground zero a 22 year old marine corporal crouches in the trench his head rammed into his arms 34 he and nineteen hundred and ninety nine other Marines are there to prove that man is not afraid 29 28 27 a little over a mile from ground zero in a concrete bunker with its air conditioning secured to set the civil defense man they want to know what chance their cities will have against the day that must never come at control point men sit silently watching instruments designed to tell them how efficiently jackhammer does its job and the tortoise slumbers across his front yard in search of breakfast three two one what happened this fire it's a misfire attention all personnel attention all personnel this is dr. Durstin test shot jackhammer is incomplete due to undetermined failure maintain positions you are still on detonation alert now gentlemen I will ask for reports from each of you be so good as to prepare you lay thirst in PhD physicist and test director for test shot jackhammer it is now his responsibility to consolidate all the data from countless machines and scientists in control point into a calculation that will reveal the cause for misfire dr. Thurston what is it everything was normal on my face until h-4 9 grant that would coincide with your variance wouldn't it yeah but Frank you shouldn't have had any reading at all at that time on the sub relay meter I didn't it showed normal and then there was a complete negative to zero response then there it is dr. Thurston it's an on-site rejection of voltage huh in other words the fault lies at ground zero according to these data yeah well can correction be made from here we can't have anybody going out there no after we check the monitor list there's one consolation dr. Thurston was that we put it together we ought to be able to take it apart yes yes we ought to but can we the second act of suspense continues in one minute sometimes a man can have too high an opinion of himself sometimes that opinion can drive him to great deeds here now is one of america's legendary heroes to tell you of some of his unique characteristics if his adjectives seem a bit outlandish remember that his image was an inspiration to a pioneering people and he still affects a nation addicted to TV I'm that same David Crockett fresh from the backwoods half horse half alligator a little touched with the snapping turtle can wade the Mississippi leap the Ohio ride upon a streak of lightning and slip without a scratch down a honey locust can whip my weight in wildcats and if a gentleman breezes for a $10 bill he may throw in a panther I can hug a bear too close for comfort and beat any man opposed to Jackson folklore belongs to every nation's legendary past and I guess we americans have our share of some tall ones and now we continue with act 2 of misfire starring mr. jack Carson a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense there's no walking away from an atom bomb no asking who left it there so it becomes a story of people they disarming Lee Thurston MIT graduate 1932 old enough to have been a polled at the thought of an atom bomb scientific enough to accept it human enough to demand influence in its use John Grant 36 a redheaded giant who daily deals and marigolds believes in them makes them work Frank Butler former child prodigy grown bald at 28 bachelor attendant now at the bigamess wedding of electronics nuclear fission and power politics and on-site test is the only way to check it out no butler that would mean two men at ground zero but there's no explanation for what we're finding here is right doctor if we accept our data we have a power failure originating at the cab itself with a risk of delayed detonation grant you can't forget that I'm not there are 2,000 Marines and 12 CD men out there how long can they wait Thursday yes what is it general Matting on the phone sir wants to know if he can evacuate yet no not until we know more about the cause of the misfire I'll let him know yes oh a windshield yes tell the photo lab I can't wait any longer for those final pictures of the patch bay under the bomb I will say for now we'll go over those monitor checklists again gentlemen we mustn't have any errors news now has a mathematics of its own the bomb plus the names of the men in control point plus a little background data equals a story mention that these men were in high school when the first atomic pile was activated mention that it would have taken that first pile 150,000 years to make enough plutonium to satisfy this bomb point out how the Cold War over came all that tell mostly of the struggle to stop jackhammer this morning hello New York I get me Barney will you honey a college peers yeah well then call them at home it's important hey where'd you get the coffee I need some freezing over here thanks a lot hello Barney listen you better call that off and go on into the office this may develop in a supplement here the bomb didn't go off no not a delay it just didn't take well a room away here is that the last boys to hook it up we're gonna have to go out and coax it down how do I know who it'll be yeah yeah I know that's what I'm here for I know yeah and Barney don't call me I'll call you the Marine lies flat now permission granted he hears unsolicited advice from his buddy on how to run an atom bomb test but he thinks about Vegas and he wonders whether he'll ever see her again the girl with the dark hair the dark eyes the wonderful smile and the Cadillac convertible in the civil defense shellards hot no air conditioning for 40 minutes now he's heavy clothes and sealed up this way somebody better call control they must have forgotten us but they haven't they're concerned with more important things that control like the photo lab with the final pictures of the victim jackhammer pictures of the bomb with its viscera displayed a to b and yellow to ground the proper circuit for agony this one's okay this one's all right the pictures show the patch cords are all okay dr. Thurston wait a minute just a minute now we've always assumed that if we got power to the site proper that it would go on to the bomb of course the door to the cab completes the circuit voltage to the door voltage to the bomb all right then what if the voltage didn't get beyond the door that's impossible our monitors show the door completely closed but what if it didn't for some reason what reason what could go wrong that wouldn't show in the monitors I don't know but it's got to be out there let me go check it I can't order anybody out there I'm asking to go I'll go with you Frank no if anybody goes it should be to you need a phone line during the climb in case we found anything here you'd need test equipment tools for opening the door manually radiation test gear and a wrench that disconnect would have to be made immediately Frank wrench what's the matter you look ill no nothing sir I've had no sleep I guess 500 feet no power for the elevator Frank I'll go with you all right but I ought to go alone act three of suspense follows in one minute do you know the Social Security benefits to which you will be entitled when you separate from the service and take a civilian job here's a tip from Social Security when you open an account at a store a special record is usually started for you when you get a Social Security account card a personal record is also started for you using both your name and the number of your card to be sure your Social Security record is correct it's a good idea to check your Social Security record every few years to get a statement of your earnings from the Social Security records you can use postcard form 704 this form is yours by writing to Social Security department 15 Hollywood 28 California that's postcard form 704 and now we continue with act three of misfire starring mr. Jack Carson a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense the afterbirth of darkness is light the insipid gray light of a desert dawn the night animals scurry homeward and the day things begin their minor motions and slowly it begins the gradual creep of light and warmth across the land till its source explodes in the vastness of the desert there it becomes the sudden kiss of heat heat that warms heat that kills and the in-between heat the heat that expands man's product the awkward wrench lies in its cramped position on the tower having severed the connection to the bomb it tries to make amends by stretching ever so slightly expanding expanding encouraged by the heat of the sun the electronic condensers on the door await their cue metal on metal and the blinding and cushion that has no beginning nor any end and the tortoise unaware accepts his gifts from the land and goes in search of his image I better go up first John no you've got a man the phone I'll start first open the door manually and check for radiation and you shoot in and disconnect the thing all right John yeah you think we'll ever get off the tower we may never get on it if we sit here and talk let's go hello Barney now listen they've started climbing the tower that's right 500 feet I don't know how many stories that is the Washington Monument is 550 I think but I'll get this Barney play this one straight will you know heroic this one will stand on its own sure we're in a detonation alert well who knows what's gonna happen the fear of falling it never goes away it only becomes conditioned to the environment and 500 feet straight up has no relation to man to look down or not to look down this becomes the problem and what do you look at the eyes of the man below you they reflect the fear of two men the expansive dry lake do you look at that it shimmers in the coming heat brings on the dizziness you look inside yourself at the fear of God you might look there that might help but for the most part you climb you lift each aching limb after the other one platform after another one after another rest a second Frank how you doing okay how much further one more platform Frank it's one more it's murder there's one consolation what going down we'll have power to the elevator afterwards and we'll ride down maybe if there isn't afterwards the wrench it's missing from the kids couldn't be up here though couldn't possibly be must have dropped it but not up here not where it could do damage better get on the phone and tell dr. Thurston we're here okay dr. Thurston dr. Thurston yes we're at the top good have you found anything grand is at the door now we'll make a manual entry as soon as we can good Frank tell him to read the voltage sheet on this door I don't think it's completely closed check the voltage sheet on the door doctor hey Frank come what is it yes hello were you talking to me hold it doctor there can you see it there look from here there's a small wrench oh no it's wedged in the door there you see it John it's mine that's my wrench I must have dropped it when we were up here arming the bomb it can happen look through the glass it it severed the detonation circuit that's what happened but it completed the door contact sure that's why the monitors didn't show it Lord Frank look how close it is to making contact John that's gonna go any second take it easy now move and shade that thing heat expansion will set it off how's this give me the phone dr. Thurston dr. Thurston can you hear me grant is that you now listen carefully we found the problem a small hand wrench has been accidentally dropped into the door track Lord now apparently it severed the detonation circuit but it's so close to making the contact now that we've got to have power to the door not while you're there come off the tower will open now you don't understand the door condensers are already loaded with enough power to detonate the bomb well is the wrench above the contact yes then opening the door will drop the wrench and set it off look you got to give me power just enough to make the door jump I'm putting a pair of pliers on the wrench I'll yank it out as soon as you loosen the door what if you miss I'll never know about it Johnny I'll do something fast the Sun is and you've got to you can't leave us like I can't risk it try to get back chance now if you could only see it I'll do it Winship give me ground zero power on my count just just do it I can explain now Grant yeah are you ready yes Grant I'll give you a 10 second count make it five all right five I get a good hole on that wrench five four three is that it Grant Grant are we out of it nice going John we're out of it there's we're out now the bomb can't go off the desert Sun continues to work its subtle magic on the wrench expanding ineffectually on the platform floor the Marines stands up on the trench the CD men emerge from their steel shelter to the relative chill of the desert heat the newsmen converge on ground zero the redhead and the ball head hop from the welcome elevator to see a tortoise scurrying ponderously towards his burrow they pick him up and he pretends he's not there at all but he is and they know it so they take him back to control points to live for another day suspense in which Mr. Jack Carson starred in William and Robeson's production of Miss Fire written by Tom Henley in a moment the names of the players who supported Mr. Carson in Miss Fire and word about next week's story of suspense this is Johnny Baker with communism on the spot in speeches and newspaper articles and over radio and television the communist leaders constantly state that everything they do is guided by the people's interests all this adds up to just another of their big lies the Soviet government is rule of the few by the few for the few the small group that rules is interested above all in staying in power and adding to that power its members treat the masses as pawns to be moved around as they see fit the people have only one right the right to do as they're told by the small clique which makes policy and gives the orders supporting mr. Carson in Miss Fire were John Daner Barney Phillips Sam Pierce Eddie Firestone and Norm Alden listen listen again next week when we return with Miss Margaret Whiting in the well-dressed corpse another tale well calculated to keep you in suspense suspense has been brought to you through the worldwide facilities of the United States armed forces radio and television service