 Family Theater presents John Charles Thomas, Jack Webb, and William Conrad. Family Theater brings you Jack Webb and William Conrad in the short career of Dexter Coles. To introduce the drama, your host, John Charles Thomas. Thank you, Gene Baker. The struggle for political power has had many examples throughout history. Whether the ambitious striver were an emperor or a scheming member of a king's court, the leader of a nation or a rabble-rousing fanatic. Thus it has been and probably as long as we remain human beings, thus it will continue to be. For the average man's healthy desire for advancement in the world is transformed by a warped mind into an unclean, vicious, inhuman struggle that ignores all the average person represents. Tonight we bring you the story of such a struggle. The short career of Dexter Coles. My office alone. The time has passed midnight, about 12 minutes. There isn't much time left anymore. That's why I'm cutting this on the tape recorder instead of writing it out. I hope that afterwards the right person turns the machine on and gets it to the papers. What I did tonight was of my own will. It was something I owed to a great many people. This began over a year ago. Paul Merrick had been offering me a job in public relations with his machine. I knew I was going to play ball with him only. I knew that the longer I stall, the higher he would make his ante. One day when I figured the time was right, I went to Paul Merrick's big office in the Capitol Building. He stood up and put out his hand. Hello, Coles. I thought you'd come, eventually. Sit down, sit down. Let's talk about this job. Let's talk about the money. What's in it? Eight thousand. Ten to begin with. Maybe you don't catch on, Mr. Coles. I call the figures around here, not the flunkies I hire. All right, if you can buy out another writer at the price, you go ahead. You're a funny guy, Coles. You're too poor to be arrogant like this. Look, Merrick, let's not fence. You need me, and I know it. You'll pay the price, I ask, because you can't find anybody else to handle the job. What makes you think that? It's a matter of the stomach, squeamishness. We others have scruples. Go on, Coles. Take some more rope. Let's see how soon you'll hang yourself. All right, let's put it this way, then. I was in Berlin in 34. I watched the Reich on its way up. In Italy, the same thing was going on. Later on, I got shifted to our Tokyo Bureau. It was happening there, too. Now I'm here, and I see the same thing all over again. What? The machine-state, police-state, il-ducci, derfu-er, Merrick. The names are different, but the thing's the same. And you don't like it? No, I don't like it, but I'm willing to come to terms with it if it pays well enough. You talk, Coles, but it doesn't gel. I know you. I know your record. I've read your stuff. Man doesn't check everything he stands for overnight to make a couple of extra bucks. This isn't overnight. It's been coming a long time. Like you said, I'm poor. Sure, I write good stuff, but I can't sell it. I got a kid I haven't been able to do things for, and after a while, things like that begin to add up. And now you want to play on the other side. Let's just say I'm tired of losing. You know, I've always wondered about you, crusaders. You golden boys with your mouths full of stock phrases and your hearts leaking with compassion. I've always wondered what made you tick. How you made out in a world too tough for him. All right, I'll tell you. We get hungry. Some of us, the good ones, go on trying to beat the merits of the world. The rest of us just turn in our chips somewhere along the line. You've all got your price, is that it? Mine is 10,000 to start with. Well, for your brains, your ability, your name, that's fair enough. But for your insides, Mr. Cole, it's too much. How do you mean? You've got the Judas floor. You're selling out now for money somewhere down the line. Later on, I'll take the chance you'll sell me out, too. You take that chance, but it won't happen. I like your money too well. All right. Now, bye. Let me tell you something, Cole. Don't ever try to sell me out, because if you do, I'll squash you like I would have fly. You call this a machine state, a police state. Well, it is. It's my machine and my police. You do your job, draw your salary, write the merry-go-round, and you'll be all right. But buck me once. I understand. Good. Your salary starts as of now. You need an advance? Yes. Now, the girl will make you out of check. Now, let's talk about the job. All right. You see, Cole, we've always been weak on public relations, even though we've got the press and radio of the state pretty well sold up. I know. I want you to take over the whole job. I want daily organized promotion throughout every newspaper and radio in the state. To what end? Clean sweep in the elections. Here. Take a look at this map. All right. State map. The black pens represent counties where we're strong. Red pens are 50-50, white spaces are opposition. There aren't many whites. There are too many from my standpoint. Eventually, I want black pens in every county in this state. Before election, I want those white spots all filled up at your job. You're going to need more than public relations for that. I'll furnish the workhorses, the organizers, they'll do their job. You've got to soften things for them. You've got to make the public receptive. They've got to read when you want them to read. Believe when and what you want them to believe. They've got to hate things you lead them to hate. That's easy enough. What's the first step? Trouble. Carefully control trouble. We've got some big opposition candidates from the precincts along the river. They're smart boys and they're honest. They've been able to pack unity in districts where it's never been before. That's why I say trouble. It's the only way to crack unified opposition. I've heard that said before, only it was in German. Mr. Coles, maybe a half hour ago, you could have made a crack like that. But you're on my payroll now. You've lost the right to talk. You're right. I'm sorry. It was night when I left Merrick's office. Inside me everything had grown hard and empty. It was a sense of guilt that cried like wind through an empty cabin. I felt dirty. I didn't want to go home. But I had to go home because I knew my daughter Victoria would be waiting up for me. Anna Radka met me at the door. Mr. Coles, where have you been? The little one wouldn't go to bed, not a thing I could say. Oh, it's all right, Anna. She wasn't frightened, was she? Maybe a little. Very bad? Well, after all, you're all she has. When it began to get late, you weren't here. I understand. Anna, I'm worried about her. Well, don't be. She's all right. Just a little high strung. She cries a lot. The least little thing sets her off. Seems a terrifier. Sometimes I think maybe I ought to take her to a doctor. I don't know. She doesn't need a doctor. She just needs more of you. She'll be all right now that you're home. Thanks, Anna, for taking care of her. I don't know what I'd do. Don't say another word. She's a lost little thing without a mother. She needs me. I'd like to be needed. Still, thanks for everything. You know how I mean that. I know. How's David? I haven't seen him in weeks. Oh, he's doing well. He's doing very well, Mr. Coles. You mean he's going to buy out that other store? No, maybe. But that isn't what I meant. My husband, David, has been asked to run for counsel in the election, imagine it. They got a petition in the ward. They want him to run. People wanting my David to run for an office. All these names, your people and ours. People we don't even know. They believe in him. They said that he wouldn't give in to anyone, anyone at all. Not even that poor married. Hannah, Hannah, listen to me. Don't let David run. Mr. Coles, I... Look, I know it's a wonderful thing. I know how proud both of you are. But don't. But, Mr. Coles, I... I'll come by and talk to David a little later, Hannah. Don't let him get into this. Good night, Hannah. The dirt inside me was thick and heavy. When I entered our apartment, I hoped that Victoria might have dropped off to sleep. I didn't want to touch her tonight. I didn't want her to look at me. And then from the chair where she sat huddled in the blanket, she called me. Daddy, here I am. She was small and lost in the blanket, thin like a bird. I went to her and her eyes went glad the way a child's eyes do. I wouldn't go to bed. And I wanted to make me, but I wanted to wait. Well, I'm glad you waited, honey. Did you have fun today? No. You didn't. Was Nana here, and Benny, Sarah, Billy? Yes, but... but you weren't. Honey, I've explained that to you. I have to be away. I wish I could be here with you, but Daddy has to make a living for us. Tonight, when... when you didn't come, I thought maybe you'd never come again. And then everything was dark and I was alone. But Anna was here, darling. No, she wasn't. Nobody was here. I was alone. Alone. There, there, Vicki. It's all right. Maybe things are going to be better now. Maybe you'll have some of the things that you've wanted. Sure, Vicki, things are going to be a lot better. She was very tired. I didn't even have to read to her because she went to sleep holding onto my hand. It took the place of a doll. Now she'd have dolls now. She'd have plenty of dolls. Holding her, I almost felt cleanness come back to me. It seemed right that I should do what I was going to. It wasn't long before I was earning my keep. All right, man. All right, let's knock it off now. Man, I've called this conference for you to meet Dexter Coles, who will handle the public relations angle from now on. He'll outline the program of action for each of your counties. All right, Coles, take over. Two months now, we've been feeding copy to the press and radio outlets. We've been softening the public up. They're ready for things now. Incidents. We'll make them. You capitalize on them. All right, you, Johnson, there's always been racial antagonism in your district. Stir it up now. This colored boy, Harrison, and what's his name, the mayor at Waterford, they're both anti-meric. They got a following between them. We'll start the ball rolling. You follow it up. Make a racial issue out of it. Split their front, and then we'll throw in a candidate of our own. Build the smears. Document them. Create incidents if you have to. But in this case, it's mainly a public relations job. Whatever you do, nail them. In each county, we kept smashing away at the anti-meric forces, splitting them, making them weak. Oh, it wasn't hard. I learned how they did it in Europe and Asia. Things were going fine, but a few precincts down the river were making a fight out of it. They're getting out of hands, Cole. Way out of hands. Started with three precincts, now they've spread to seven. Oh, seven precincts in 30? What's that? You must be crazy. You got the whole state sewed up. What do you care about a handful of precincts in one city? I don't like opposition. But seven precincts in 30, I'll tell you what it is. It means the people in seven stinking precincts in this town have been able to get up enough nerve to buck me. Even when they know they can't win, they're trying. Ideas like this catch on. If I don't kill it now, it can spread. That's why we've got to smash these seven precincts. All right, where do we start? At the roots, the deep old country roots, the ones that go down under their hides. All those precincts are the swell heap of humanity. Every race, every nationality under the sun is in them. There's a million dormant hatreds and antagonisms breeding in among them. What we do here, Cole, is what we've been doing, only on a bigger scale. They're united on one thing now, beat Marek, all right. We'll break that unity up. We'll set them hating each other so bad they'll forget to hate us. That's the line, Cole's. Go on, start hitting it. The night came down over the city. A slow poison began to seep through its streets and alleys. In my position with Marek, I created that night, and it was I who pulled the floodgates of the poison. Don't trust this guy, Schmidt. He's lining up them foreigner votes on the side. If he gets in, he's going to bump you guys out. Put his own buddies in. I'll keep this under your hat. I don't want to get around to that. A blast of unknown origin claimed two lives destroyed a dry cleaning establishment and damaged nearby buildings in the fourth ward this afternoon. Police headed that a bomb was planted by foreign elements supporting the election of David Ratkin, the council. Mr. Bernchick, owner of the establishment, was killed in the blast. Marek wanted the seven precincts crucified. I made the cross and drove in the nails. After a few weeks, they began to break up in little pieces. Nobody hated Marek anymore. They hated each other. Their political front was breaking up. I'd done a good job. I drew a fat, regular salary now. The world was a second dirty place to live in, but it paid real well. Mr. Coles. I looked up into Anna Ratkin's face. It was troubled. When she spoke, I saw her lips tremble. Mr. Coles. There's something up. Yes, Anna. I don't know what to do, Mr. Coles. The trouble is starting with David. What do you mean? The old trouble. He got a letter yesterday, not signed. It said, no foreigners on council. Anna, listen. David's got to get out of the council campaign right away. I want him to. I've been begging him to. He says no. He says it's just a trick of that Marek to keep him from running. Anna, you stay here with Vicki. I'll talk to David. I'll try to make him see. Now listen to me, David. Anna's told me about the letter. You've got to drop this whole thing right now. Dexter, this isn't like you. What isn't like me? Well, saying quit, David. That's not like you. I know what I'm talking about, David. Marek is hard. He's rotten. He'll do anything to get you off that ticket. That's what I mean. Dexter, suppose I get off. Suppose all the others get off. That leaves him in power. No, Dexter, no. The people, my friends, they want me. They believe in me. I can't let them down. David, you were in Nuremberg in 35. You know what happened there? I know. But this is America. People like us, we have a chance here. It's the same here as in Germany. I've seen both and I know. I think what's happening right here in the neighborhood lately. Street fights, fires, windows broken, homes entered, smashed up. What's the difference? Dexter, I know you. I know why you're talking this way because you're thinking of me, of Anna, the kid. You don't want us to be hurt. But in your heart, the way you believe, I know you're with me. No, I'm not. More than anything else, that's helped me make up my mind. That's you, Dexter. Me, the things you wrote. Way back before I ever dreamed I would know you, you know, in those days I kept a scrapbook of good people who wrote things. I got all your stories in it. From Germany, Japan, Palestine. Even those days I thought there is a good writer, an honest writer. You know why I saved your things, Dexter? Because to me, you're... How should I say? Like a prophet. A man with God's light in his heart. A man working toward God through ideas, through helping men. Do you see? Prophets change, David. Times break prophets. Sometimes, even God fades. Not to you, or those like you. Disillusionment, yes, but not renunciation of the good, never is selling out. David Radker, the tailor who believed in me. I went to the apartment. For the first time in many years I got out my old scrapbook. I read through it again. I was thinking the old thoughts and weighing them against now. And when I finally laid it aside I knew just how far I'd fallen. That morning I took Victoria to Anna's before I went to work. When I got to the office I found Merrick waiting for me. Ah, of course. I've got a big job for you tonight. What is it, slander or just murder? Still the funny man, eh? No, I'm not funny. Well, don't try to be. It's a big thing, Coles. Radio broadcast. State-wide network. Everybody will be listening. I thought that was your show. No, I can't handle it tonight. Something else has come up. But you're the smart boy with the words. That's why you're taking my place. Well, what do I say? The speech you wrote out for me. You know, the one you called lousy with schmaltz? That one. Election's just a week off, Coles. You know, you've done a beautiful job for us. This speech tonight will come at just the right time. Yeah, I'm quite a guy, Merrick. Yes, you are. You know, sometimes you scare me, Coles, way down inside. Well, now that's something. It is. It is. I don't scare easy. How a guy like you, with a name you had, could sell out everything he stood for and do what you've done. I don't know. I forgot about the speech in the way home because I stopped to buy flowers and a new outfit for Victoria was her birthday, her night. I let myself slide gently into her world, the good one. The child's world, which for some wonderful reason I could still enter. Being with her at the end of the day was like knowing innocence again, like the cleansing of rain. Her world was the one good thing left of my own. And then when I turned the corner and saw the crowd gather around David's shop, I knew that world had gone too. Hey, let me through. Let me through here, please. Hey, where you going? Let me through, please. Officer, listen, what happened? What, inside? You know somebody in there? Yes, yes, I do. My kid was in here. She was staying with... What happened in there? Take it easy, buddy. Take it easy. Nothing you can do now. Bunch of hoods broke into the place club. The guy and his wife smashed the machine. What about the kids? There were some kids in here. Look, I'm all to the Riverside Hospital. I headed for the hospital. I must have been out of my head because I don't remember how I got there. At the hospital, they took me to her room. They told me to be very quiet. I went in. She lay there, her eyes, and her face white and drawn. I started toward her, but the doctor drew me back. No, she'll be all right. Later on. She's not hurt, is she, doctor? Not bodily. What do you mean, not bodily? Well, it's a very extreme case of shock. You know, she wasn't actually touched, but in a way, it's as though the blows fell on her. The reactions are traumatic, even though there are no marks. He went on talking. Don't worry. I didn't hear him. Bring her around. I could only see my daughter's face. Thin, wasted, as though all at once life had been drained from it. Her world had crashed today. She'd seen men with hate in their faces and clubs crushing the bodies of people that she knew and loved. Her world had crashed in a nightmare of horror that had for a while, and maybe even forever, carried with it her mind. And I started the whole thing. I set the ball rolling the day I walked into Merrick's office. I left the hospital, I got into my car and I sat there. I must have sat there for better than a half hour, not moving, not even thinking. Then I glanced at my watch. It was 8.30. The broadcast was at 9. Automatically, I turned the key and started for the radio station. I couldn't think. All I knew was that I had an appointment to keep my mind fastened to that fact and clung to it. When I got to the station, I found the program producer waiting. Where have you been, Coles? We've been waiting half an hour at least. I'm sorry. We won't have time for a run-through. You'll have to go on cold. Yes. What's the matter with you? You look sick. Nothing. Nothing at all. All right, let's go. Paul Merrick said to tell you he'll be listening from some party he's at. Yes. You've got about a minute. Better get inside or watch me. I'll give you the starting cue. All right. I stared at the microphone and then the script in my hands. It was something I wanted to do, but I was afraid even to think of it. Don't ever try to sell me out, Coles, because if you do, I'll squash you like I'd squash a fly. It was something I wanted to do, but I was physically afraid of doing it. 30 seconds to go. What can you do in 30 seconds? It's not enough time to change things to make things right again. You've got the Judas floor, Coles. You're selling out for money. Somewhere down the line, you might sell me out, too. It was something I wanted to do, but my body cried out not to. I saved your writings because I believed in them, because you would like it profit. Stand by. Looking up at the booth, I saw the producer's arm drop. This is Dexter Coles. I came here with a prepared speech tonight. I'm not using it. I'm asking you to listen to me now, if you will, not cut me off, because what I've got to say is terribly important. I've been employed by the Merrick machine. I've taken their pay. This machine, all of us who make it up, is a cancer in the body of this state. It should be burned out, rooted out and destroyed, all of it and us. The way we've destroyed what's good and lawful among you. Now, if you'll please listen, I'll give you what you need to know. The facts, figures, dates, names, everything you'll need for the job. So I'm in my office alone, waiting now for Merrick and his friends. Their car just pulled up to the curb. They're on their way up here now. Whatever it is, I'll take it. And if I go down, there'll be others like David to take up where I finished. And if I don't go down, then maybe things are just beginning for me. Whatever happens, one way or the other, I've tried to do a little something for my daughter. I've tried to wash things clean, give back a part of her world that I broke. That's something. Open up, Coles. The door's wide open. This is John Charles Thomas again. You know folks, a birthday is a great event. I know it's true in my own family, and it's true in yours too. A birthday means that you are growing up, that another year has passed, and another lies ahead with many opportunities for doing good. Well, tonight is Family Theatre's birthday. Three years ago it came into existence over 116 stations, and for one purpose, to bring entertainment into your home with a reminder of the power of daily family prayer. Today, more than 700 stations in the United States, Canada, and many other countries carry Family Theatre. So Family Theatre is really growing up, and it's opportunities for good. Well, from the many letters received week after week, we know that thousands of you have found our productions entertaining and have experienced the happiness and peace that come from family prayer. So we begin our fourth year on the air in a spirit of birthday rejoicing, and remind you, as we do each week, the family that prays together stays together. More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. Hollywood Family Theatre is brought to William Conrad and Jack Webb in the short career of Dexter Coles with John Charles Thomas as your host. Others in our cast were Virginia Gregg, Molly Names, Walter Burke, Frank Hemingway, Larry Dobkin and Stanley Farah. The short career of Dexter Coles was written by Frederick Lipp, with music composed and conducted by Harry Zimmerman, directed for Family Theatre by Jaime Del Valle. This series of Family Theatre broadcasts is made possible by the thousands of you who felt the need for this type of program, by the mutual network which has responded to this need, and by the hundreds of stars of stage, screen and radio who have so unselfishly given of their time and talent to appear on our Family Theatre stage. To them and to you, our humble thanks. This is Gene Baker expressing the wishes of Family Theatre that God's blessing is upon you and your home. And inviting you to join us next week when Family Theatre will bring you Jane Powell and Parley Baer in Urban S. Cobb's Quality Folks. Join us, won't you? Family Theatre is heard in Canada through the facilities of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, is broadcast to our troops overseas with the Armed Forces Radio Service and is released in the Philippines by the Philippine Broadcasting Corporation. This is the world's largest network, the Mutual Broadcasting System.