 You, finding life rather dull, dreaming again of exotic places, wishing you were somewhere else, we offer you escape. Escape us now to an island off the northwest coast of Africa, and the story of a man whose quest for happiness was blocked by a giant, a madman, and a beautiful girl, as Willard Kaufman tells it in his exciting story, The Gladiator. Now Scarletti fountains advantage with the right cross on the McNabb's heart, then a left to the chin, and a right, and on the right. Oh, a wizard of a smash to McNabb's jaw, and the pride of Scotland is down. He's down. The referee motions Scarletti to a neutral corner, and begins counting. I sit there in a neutral corner, not realizing it was over. This was it, John. I had to tell myself this was it. After 12 years in the scrambled brains business, 12 years of living like a monk and dying before each fight, this was it. And then I saw her. Dark she was, and ployantly slender. The most beautiful girl I'd ever seen. She sat there among the ringside bloodsuckers with the arc lights on her white face, as calm and curious as a queen. Even a cold shower couldn't get her out of my mind. I don't know why, her hair was the color of night, and she wore a diamond in it, like a star, when only one is shining in the sky. And now I'd never see her again. Joe! If I had any guts, any guts at all, I'd have gone to her as I left the ring. I'd have said, you're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. I'd have said, what's your name? What are you doing here? Joe! Well? Oh, yeah, yeah, Pawnee. You can climb out of the shower now. Newspaper guys have gone. Yeah, you got rid of them real fast, huh? There's a snap. Nobody's interested in a retired heavyweight champion, not even on his first night of retirement. Well, that's the way I want it. For the rest of my life. Hey, here's your rug, Joe. Oh, thanks. Yeah, a little peeve to sportswriters. They thought you'd stick around London for a while instead of turning off to Rome. Yeah, we got the plane tickets. Yeah, and an hour to make the plane, so please don't... Good evening, gentlemen. May I strange you congratulate you on your splendid victory? Uh, thanks, bud, but now if you just... My name is Virenius. Julius Virenius. Oh, it's nice to know you. But we're sort of in a hurry. May I introduce my niece? Come in, my dear. Lucretia. Hello. Hello. I, uh, thought I'd never see you again. Where did you see me before? In the ring. I mean, when I was on the ring. I thought you were the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen. Hey, Joe, we'd better get going. We're missed connections. Mr. Scaletti, I wondered if you and your manager would consent to be my guests on your trip to Rome. I assure you no public conveyance could be as pleasant as the one I offer. Hmm? Lucretia? Well, there are certain compensations about Istinia. Uh, thanks a lot, but we couldn't pause on it. But I insist, my dear sir. Mr. Scaletti, you see, I am a student of the boxing. I should enjoy talking with you. I should be honored playing host to the... ...greatest of all champions. I'm sorry, Mr. Virenius, but... Please. Mr. Virenius, we'd be delighted to go. But, Joe... Your niece won't mind. I would love having you. Indeed. I'll have your baggage picked up at the airport. I can't tell you what a pleasure it will be for my niece... ...and me. The pleasure is... ...all mine. But I... ...I just do not understand. You had success. You were famous, and... ...and you gave it up. I would never have given it up. You know, I like the way you dress. You fit into it nice. You sound like a kid on his first date. Well, in a way, I am. See, I've never been this... ...close to a... ...nice girl before. And not so nice, Joe. And you're not so close. Well, I can... ...get closer. No, Joe. Yeah, three days on the water, three nights under the stars. You sound absolutely miracle. Like... ...number one on the heat parade. And it's still no Joe. Don't rush me. You have plenty of time. You're like a spring, all wound up. I've been wound up for 12 years. Then wind down. Talk a little. Talk it out. Talk. That's kid stuff. Oh, you don't know anything about kids. I don't believe you ever were a kid. No, I guess I wasn't. The night of my 17th birthday, I... ...had my 17th fight. That's some coincidence. Why cry about it? You're still young. Yeah, I'm 29. The days are going fast, and what have I got to show for them? Oh, nothing. Nothing except the satisfaction and the wealth... ...and the fame of being the greatest fighter in the world. And that world was pretty narrow. A ring 20 feet square surrounded by rope. You were the first man since Fitzsimmons... ...to hold the light heavyweight... ...and the heavyweight championship at the same time. Hey, how do you know so much about fighting? Oh, I don't. I'm just quoting. Speak for yourself. Tell me about yourself. Or, uh, is that kid stuff, too? No, but... ...there's nothing to tell. Oh, there must be. I mean, who are you? Do you live in Rome or Paris or... ...neither or both? How does it feel to be rich when you don't have to fight for it? Well... ...you say I... ...I would rather talk about you. Look, I should. Why are you so upset? I'm not upset. I... Hey, Joe. Joe, I got to see you. Hey, where are your manners, Pony? You're in a rough... Joe, that's all right. Joe, I'll see you later. Oh, look, Croatia, I... Joe. There's something fishy about this whole mashup. What? Listen to me, Joe. It's about this Joker, Varinius. Oh, what about him? He's a stranger. He talks all the time about fighters... ...like most guys talk about games. He can't stop him from talking. And he looks at you like a crazy. Like a butcher fixing a car up a price book. He can't stop him from looking either. All right. But remember to dress in a room three nights back... ...when you said we'd go with him? And he said... ...he said he'd pick up our gear at the airport. So? So how did he know our gear was at the airport? How did he know he was going to Rome? You told the sportswriters. Maybe you read it somewhere. I told him a couple of minutes before... ...Varinius parked up. Like that's not all. Joe, get your mind off that damning list. All right, I'm listening. Well, I've been trying to brush him all day. And on a little boat like this it ain't easy... ...even in his five. But ten minutes ago he almost cornered me... ...so I took off. Up that stairway. A ladder, a reward ship you call it, a ladder. All right, so I go up like the second floor. Now the bridge. But you've stopped interrupting. I mosey around... ...and I happen to notice that big map. That's a chart. They mark our course on it day by day. Yeah, that's it. Well, I almost fall down. Joey... ...we ain't going to Rome. What? To go to Rome. We should have turned left at the rockage of Rother. That's how you get to what you call the Mediterranean Sea. And we didn't? We kept going south. Right now we're somewhere off Africa. What do we do, Joey? We better talk to Varinius. Hey, you made us well start talking. Here he comes. Ah, there you are. I've been looking for you. Yeah, yeah, I know. I mean, I... Varinius. Please, call me Julius. You are enjoying the trip. You are comfortable. Well, a matter of fact... Splendid! You look marvelous, Joe. You've never looked better. No? That makes you so sure. You never saw me until three days ago. Ah, that's where you are wrong. I've known you a long time, Joe. Since the night you defeated Jackie Slade at the Polo Grounds in your native New York. What? That was nine, ten years ago. Ten. Ten years, five and a half months. When you walked in the ring that night you were just another preliminary boy. When you walked out, I knew you would be champion. Of all the bout I have ever seen, that is the one I most enjoy remembering. That's the fight I'd like most to forget. Ah, when you hit Slade in the second round, a magnificent punch. He was in the hospital three weeks. He almost died. I wanted to give up fighting for good. But why? Because I don't like hurting people. I don't like to kill. You don't like hurting? That is very funny. Here's something funnier than that. Why aren't we going to Rome? I hate noise. But I suppose the plexon is necessary in the fire. Come on, quit stalling, Varoneus. My dear Joe, I never stall. I certainly wouldn't try to now when you're obviously so sure of what you're talking about. Where are we going? Home. Home. With me. Accused me of selfishness, if you like. But I so much enjoy playing host to you that I thought I'd prolong the pleasure. Perhaps I should have consulted you about it, but you would not have accepted. Would you? I would not, you see. But, of course, we cannot turn back now. Why not? Because I have this gun. And it is loaded. And as I know very little about firearms, it might go off and hurt you. I would not want that to happen, Joe. It would interfere with my plan. Now, what plans are those? Something I've thought about for ten years since the night at the polo ground. I'll tell you all about it sometime soon. But now, if you'll head down that passageway, you'll find a small but comfortable bridge ready to receive you. Let's go. Escape under the direction of Norman McDonald returns in just a moment. Looking for a bookie? Investigators are. Police are, too. Some police are not looking for the bookies that are a major part of organized crime in America. CBS Radio, as the third in its important documentary series, The Nation's Nightmare, uncovers fascinating facts about the bookie business. Hear from police, criminals, victims, in their own voices, under authentic conditions. Hear CBS Radio's The Nation's Nightmare on most of these same stations tomorrow night. Now, back to... Escape. Some pleasure cruise this time's out to be. And all because you fall for a dame with slow gin eyes and a diamond in her hair. Some fair shuffle you got from Uncle Julius. So, what are you gonna do about it? You're my manager, you tell me. I'll tell you this much. We gotta do something, even if it's wrong. What can we do? Uncle Julius has got four races and a gun. I got four walls and I got bars on the door. I'll tell you what I got. I met on that dame worse than I got on Uncle Julius. Finally, hands on either of them, huh? Let's watch! Hey, who, what's that? For sure, let's watch it! Let's watch it! Well, if it ain't the dame with the slow gin eyes... Yeah, Varinius must have flipped to lock up his ever-loving niece. Now, listen, baby, you better give it to us straight. What's this all about? I don't know. I saw him pull that gun on you, so I go to him. I say, what kind of business is this? I say this is not a deal. Ah, likely so. I swear! Practical jokes are okay, Adorely, but not with a gun. So he tossed me in here with you. That's what you get for talking back to your Uncle Julius. He's not my Uncle Julius! He must have disowned her. I never saw him till a week ago. He comes in this club in Paris where I'm singing. He offered me 20,000 francs to go to London with him. Just for the weekend, he said. To play a practical joke on two friends. Now, if we're the friends, I wonder how he treats his enemies. I'm afraid we're going to find out. Well, let's find out now. What how? Morning. Get that 10 basin over there. Basin? Yeah, get it. All right, Lucretia, take off your shoes. Shoes? Yeah, do what I say. Now, when I start rattling the door, you start banging away at the bulkhead. Oh, I get you. All right, are you ready? Okay, let's go. What do you want? We want you to tell us a story. Where are we going? And why? You are asking for the story of my life. Then tell it. Come on in and tell it. No, thank you. I'll tell it on this side of the bar. Does the name of Virinius mean anything to you? Nothing. Once I know a lightweight called Speedy Virinius, he was a bum too. Virini was a constant loser. But the greatest loser of all was Puglia Virinius. He was commander-in-chief of the Roman imperial army. 2,000 years ago, he was sent to put down the revolt of Spartacus the debilator. He was badly beaten. Oh, stop. That old whore! Puglia's returned to Rome in disgrace. He was ostracized, consigned to a tiny island in the farthest rim of the Roman empire. That's where he went with his wife and his slaves and his gold. That's where he lived. And so did his sons. And their sons. That's where I live today. That is where we're going. You expect us to believe that? If you wish. Tomorrow you'll see for yourself. All right then, for tonight we'll let it pass. Not for the second question. Why are you going there? My dear fellow, you're going there to fight. You're going for the hardest fight of your life. Oh, so that's it. Well, let me tell you, Buster, Joe will belt the years off any bum you put in a ring with him. He'll co-cock your bum and any round your neck. There won't be any round. Joe will kill him! Possibly. Or Joe himself might be killed. You see, Pony, this fight will be to the death. We got there the next night. A little island and a mantle of fog that hung solid as grease over land and sea. The dock gave way to a worn stone path and suddenly out of the fog an enormous structure appeared with towers and battlements plunging so high they were lost in the gloom. Look at this. Like a castle or something. Not as big as right of your city, but almost. You like it, Joe? I'd like it better if you'd keep that cannon out of my spine. I apologize, Joe, but I cannot chance your escaping the fog. The fog is most forgettable. Usually the view from here is magnificent. Yeah. On a clear day you can see Catalina. Or at least the African mainland. I admire your talent for jokes in so strange a situation. The situation's impossible. You kidnapped me to kill or be killed for your amusement. And now you regret that the view is not up to par. You're shocked, Joe, simply because my values differ from yours. That's a mild way of putting it. You're shocked because you might die for my amusement. Death is not amusing where I come from. Where you come from? I assure you I am equally shocked by the values of your world. At least we've gone a couple of thousand years from barbarism. You've gone from barbarism to decades without touching civilization. We don't kill men for amusement. I often wonder what you kill them for. Yet the killing goes on year after year. What's war but mass murder? All right, but basically our way of life... Basically you have no way of life. You have a culture of gadgets to which no one has contributed anything of value since the Romans invented the bathtub. Oh, don't argue with him, Joe. It is getting us nowhere. All right, right, my dear. Anyway, this is as far as I go. What's on the other side of the wall? You'll find out. As soon as I find the key... Hmm, nearly it is. Inside, if you please. And make yourself at home. I am your slave. A vice versa. The iron door swung shut and we were in an ancient Roman village. The stone wall surrounding us must have been eight feet thick and about four times as high. And notched along the top were saw teeth. Mud huts crouching in the soupy night formed an irregular circle around the deserted market place. Just like those pictures in the first year Latin book. Only Uncle Julius had tricked up the joint with a few of the modern gadgets he so much despised. Look, Joe. On top of the wall between the notches. Yeah, machine gun. Searchlight. About every 50 yards. Like a concentration camp. Joe, what are we going to do? You keep asking me that. Would you keep talking the answer? I don't know. Maybe we ought to dig up some local talent. Maybe we could talk to them. What do you suppose they speak? Maybe Latin. You know any Latin? A pig Latin, I know. I could talk like a native when it was the finger on Jacob's speech. What's that? Joe, look at him. I looked at the man who came out of the fog. His face was scarred and his shoulders were like a pair of shovels. And great welts of muscles shifted when the shovels moved under the thin toga. One of his hands was curved like half a watermelon around what seemed to be a lash. A double strip of rawhide studded with iron spikes. He was the biggest man I ever saw. You are Scarletti. I am Grigsas. Nice to meet you. I come from Caesar. Caesar Varinias. He talked to me a long time. Explain to Scarletti, he say. Answer questions, tell him what to expect. I tell you what to expect in one word. And what is the word, Grigsas? Death. Any way he speaks English. Death is the same in any tongue. I'd make sure Sir Cyril die. Because tomorrow in the combat I kill you. Well, you look like the kid who could do it. Caesar say to show you this. Now what is it, a lash? It is Cestas, the gauntlet. You wear it, so one in each hand with the leather thong tied to the arm and the iron studs over the knuckles. What a weapon. You fight with these? Of course. But what if Jor don't want to fight? Those who will not fight are killed by the guns. And there is no way out, no way to escape? Three men tried in last few months and two last year. They were killed by the guns? They were killed by the gladiators. But why? You see, it would be difficult for Caesar if a slave escaped and talk. Caesar has made it difficult for all of us. You wired the island with enough explosive to blow it off the earth. With slave escaped, Caesar touches a button. And... It is the end of us all. He's very clever, Caesar. Grexus, how many gladiators are there here? Once a hundred and twenty. Me and you. How many men on the guns? Twelve guns on the wall. Twenty-four men. Each gun is placed to cover all the others. Clever. But there are about fifty yards apart a man might slip between them in the fog. There are such lights. What do you think, Jor? The fog, Bonnie. The lights are useless in the fog. But how can we climb the wall? Grexus, each gladiator had a pair of these gauntlets, right? Of course. Where are they now? In that chest over there. It's locked. Of course. I have the key. Come on, open it, Grexus. Why? We'll tie them together and make a rope with a loop on one end. We'll swing the loop over a notch on top of the wall. No, Scarlatti. No. Not while I am here. You would rather fight than be free? I kill Scarlatti tomorrow. I am free. Caesar has said it. Don't kill me. You'll be dead. I kill you like a fly. It's no use, Joe. This joke's lined up with Varunius. I hate to think of tomorrow. Yeah. I guess I'll have to tangle with him tonight. What do you say, Scarlatti? Nothing, Grexus. Just this. Boy, you sure clobbered. All right, let's find that key. Now, here it is. Come on. Yeah. All right, pony, now take these gauntlets and tie them up. Tie them up good. He'll never get out. Use one for a gag. Right. Died and tied, Joe. You think they will hold you? I don't know, baby. But in about ten minutes, we're going to find out. I missed the first try. But the second caught and held. And I went up, hand over hand. And then the rope tightened below me as Lucretia and Pony began to climb. The machine gun was about 60 feet away somewhere beyond the fog. But the whistling of the gunner was a guide. A foghorn. He must have picked through the leather gag. There's the boat, Lucretia. Come on. Just a little further. Guest off, Pony. Not just yet. Not this time, Varunius. Stay back. I kill all of you. All of us, but one of us will get you. Stay back. Stay back, guys. Joe, are you hurt? No, not much. Get aboard. Get warmed. The sun. The fog is gone. There's the African. Look over there, you see? The island of Varunius. Joe, there is smoke coming from it. Look at it. There's the water. It won't even be muddy out there. Joe, there's only one thing wrong with this whole last shot. What is that, Pony? Nobody's going to believe any part of this now. Under the direction of Norman McDonnell, Escape has brought you The Gladiator by Millard Kaufman, starring Bill Conrad. Featured in the cast were Lou Krugman, Ted Osburn, and Lillian Bief with Paul Freese and Byron Kane. The special music for Escape was composed and conducted by Leith Stevens. Next week, Escape with us to the Yellow Sea and the story of a man who fought the entire Japanese Navy with an ancient submarine and an untrained crew, as Alec Hudson tells it in his exciting story, Up Periscope. When an actor takes his work so seriously that he begins living the role in real life, a situation supercharged with tension develops. Tomorrow night on most of these same stations, radio brings you Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in the Broadway Playhouses of Double Life. Hear what happens when a star portrays the tragic role of a fellow offstage as well as on. It's a Broadway Playhouse thriller on CBS Radio tomorrow night. Roy Rowan speaking. This is the CBS Radio Network.