 There presents Alanor Powell and Raymond Burr. The Mutual Network in Cooperation with Family Theater presents Stranger in Town Starring Raymond Burr. And now, here is your hostess, Alanor Powell. Thank you, Tony LaFranco. Family Theater's only purpose is to bring to everyone's attention a practice that must become an important part of our lives if we are to win peace for ourselves, peace for our families, and peace for the world. Family Theater urges you to pray. Pray together as a family. And now to our transcribed drama, Stranger in Town, starring Raymond Burr as Dan, and featuring Virginia Gregg as Eve. Miss Harden speaking. How's that again? It disappeared. The whole hill? Now just a minute. Yes, yes, I know the hill you're talking about. This is Jake Lavendish, isn't it? Now listen to me, Jake. I don't know what your idea of a joke. Come out and look. Are you out of your mind? Hills don't just up and disappear? Well, yes, Jake, yes, yes. But, well, I'm alone in the office just now anyway. And I couldn't come out until, wait a minute, Jake, wait a minute. Here comes the sheriff now. Dan, Jake Lavendish is on the wire here. He says the hill in his soft pastures. Just took off like a big bird. He's right. Here, let me talk to him. Here you are. Hello, Jake. Yes, I know it's gone. I just drove by. Well, suppose you tell me. Well, I don't know what you expect me to do about it. Look, look, Jake, I'll keep an eye open. If I see it, I'll let you know. What does he expect me to do about it? Buy him another one? A whole hill? You just don't figure it. Sheriff's office, Hardin. Yes, ma'am, we know it's gone. No, ma'am, I don't know where it went. How could anybody know where it went? If we find out, you'll hear about it in the news. Bye. Into that hill? Hey, you do? Either that or I'm losing my marbles. Come on in the back office. Let's get away from that phone. Yeah, yeah, sure. I've about run my legs off today. About the hill? Yep. Is it really gone, the whole thing? The whole thing, grass, trees, and sod. Furthermore, I know the girl who took it. The girl who took it? Sit down, Bill. I met her morning before last. I was walking down Broad Street, coming back from coffee. I first spotted her. She was a tall girl, about 5'9 or 5'10. Not what you'd call beautiful, but one of the most attractive women I ever saw. She was walking down the other side of the street in the opposite direction, looking around at the shop windows, the buildings, and people on the street. She looked over and spotted me. Then, just like that, she started across the street. You all right? Stepped right in front of me, Sheriff. I know she did, Professor. I was watching. You all right, Miss? I think so, a little shaken up. I'm sorry, Miss, but it wasn't my fault. You saw that, Dan. It's all right, Professor. No harm, Dan, going about your business. Well, you know where you can reach me, don't you, Dan? I won't be having to reach you. Everything's all right, unless you were thinking of trying to sue the professor. Sue? Oh, certainly not. I'm all right. You know, young lady, you really should be more careful. You might have been killed, you know. Thank you. I'm sorry to have inconvenienced you. You're the sheriff. That's right. And just to prove it, I'm going to write you a ticket. A ticket? Citation for J. Walking. Why? Why? Why, because it's against the law. That's why. This citation, it's a form of punishment. That's a, say, are you trying to be smart? No, I just want information. You're going to give me a ticket for J. Walking, and this ticket is a form of punishment. Don't you people have laws against double jeopardy? Double jeopardy? Punishing a person twice for the same crime. Oh, I suppose so. Well, I've already been punished once. That vehicle about scared me to death. Well, I didn't expect it to be right there on the ground. Well, where would you expect it to be up in the air? Naturally. Naturally? Oh, you wouldn't understand. I don't think so. Name, please. You're going to give me the ticket anyhow? That's right. But I didn't even know about your law against J. Walking. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. It certainly is. It's the best excuse. How can you obey the law if you don't even know about it? Lady, if you were about to say you're a stranger in town, J. Walking is against the law just about everywhere in the country. Well, what is your name? Oh, this is going to take very long. Just a few minutes. Name? Eve. Last name? Last name. You mean you have two? Oh, brother. Now, don't tell me you don't have a last name. Well, strictly speaking, I don't. All right, we'll just leave that blank for now. Occupation? I'm an alien psychologist. How's that again? An alien psychologist. I study the psychology of aliens. You do this for a living? In combination with sociology, yes. All right, sister. Come with me. Where are we going? Pokey, maybe a couple of hours in the cooler will make you feel a little more like talking. Pokey, the cooler. Jail. Jail? Wait a minute. I was talking, wasn't I? Yeah, double talking. Please. I'll explain everything. Please. I have to meet some people in a few hours. If you put me in jail, I may not be able to do it. Please. Jail, all right, one more try. Now, I'll start talking. Well, I don't think you'll understand this, but... Oh, sister, I don't know where you're from. But anywhere, the quickest way to get somebody's goat is to tell them they aren't smart enough to understand what you're going to tell them. I don't want your goat. Do you mean I'm making you angry? That's quite right, lady. That's just about what I mean. I don't want you to be angry with me, but it will be a little hard for you to believe. You see, I am what I said I am. My government pays me to find out what makes people behave the way they do, how they think and why. Research? That's it, exactly. I'm part of a field research team. You said my government. You mean this government. Well, no. Foreign government? Very foreign. And this might be hard for you to believe. Not so far. The government I work for isn't even in the solar system. Now it's getting hard to believe. Look at this dress, if you don't believe me. Have you ever seen material like this? It wasn't made on Earth. What do I know about dresses? To me, nylons are a miracle. Sister, if you're trying to tell me that... My bag. Look here. Hey, hey, hey, how'd you do that? Opened the bag and didn't even touch the zipper. Slide fastener. What's not slide fastener? The edges of the opening are magnetic. That's pretty clever, but... That's nothing. Here, look at this. What's that? Looks like a silver dollar. Hold it in the sunlight. A flattened palm of your hand. Like this? Hey, hey, what is this thing? A radio. It's powered by either the sun or the heat of the body. You don't have anything like that on Earth. Well, well, well, there could be. Well, let me see. I don't seem to have much else. Most of the other things they gave me were manufactured in my world, but I'm afraid they were made to correspond to Earth-made items. Look, lady, even if they were stamped made on Mars or Jupiter or wherever you say you're from... How about this? This thing that looks like a fountain pen? It's a weapon. Only for self-protection, naturally. Naturally. I mean, being on an alien planet. Look, don't show it to me. If it's really a weapon, I'll have to take you in. And with your story, you'd probably wind up into hatchery. Now, look, here's your ticket. Fill in the blanks yourself. You're to appear before Judge Deemus, 10 in the morning, seven days from today. Seven days from today. If you're going to appear before Judge Deemus, you'll need a week to make up a new story. To come back in a week? Well, all right, but it's going to be terribly inconvenient. That's too bad. Look, just for the record, though, if you're from another planet, how'd you learn our language? It wasn't hard to learn. I just sat around listening to people. I started last night in a dark place where the people sit around drinking euphoric until their senses leave them. They gilded cage, I think it was called. I learned too many of the wrong words there, so I went to a theater, then a restaurant. Yes, yes, you'd better get another story before you talk to Judge Deemus. Well, see you in court. Before you go. Yeah? Is there a place in your city where books are available? Books are available? Oh, oh, you mean a library? A block down, a block to the left. Thank you very much. Glad to help out. Anytime you're on Earth, drop around. Sister, you're out of this world, all right? I watched her walk away. Had a funny walk as if she wasn't used to high heels. Then I tried to go on about my business, but I just couldn't get her out of my mind. Well, I'm not surprised. That radio over there sounds like it comes from somewhere else. Well, I didn't put too much stock in it. Telephone companies have been fooling around with send-powered batteries for a long time. And I've heard about other things, printed wiring, transitors the size of a grain of rice, you know. I suppose they could make something like that here. What'd you do then? Well, I remembered she'd said something about going to the Gilded Cage. She picked a rough joint. That's right. Not too many young ladies go to a place like that alone. I thought maybe the barkeep might have remembered her. Well, he remembered her, all right? I'll never forget her. Nice looking girl. War-addressed that looked kind of metallic. Yeah, that's the guy. Wait a minute, Sheriff. Andy! Pull a plug in that box! Can't hear myself a thing! She didn't have anything to drink. Just sat there at the end of the bar, listened to the people talk. Stay long? An hour, hour and a half, maybe. I couldn't figure out why she'd come in. A couple of boys got the notion how maybe she'd got lonesome. And I'll tell you, that was a bad idea. What do you mean? You know Big Ed Jackson? Not too. He spends most of his weekends in my jail. Yeah, that's the guy. Well, Big Ed invited himself over to the stool next to her, and he starts talking. She pays real close attention to him at first, and when she sees what he's up to, she says to him, Go away! Just like that. Sounded kind of foreign. Is she a foreigner? She might be, in a way. Say, you want to be a... No, no, no, thanks. Go on with the story. Well, she said, go away! But Big Ed stays right there. And I can see she's getting mad. In a couple of minutes, he tries to slip his arm around her, and bam! It hits the floor like an anvil under a lotus sand. Couldn't figure out how she did it. Still don't know. One of Ed's buddies looks down at him, then over at her. Then he takes about two steps toward her, and the same thing happens to him. He hit the floor, like he'd suddenly gained about 5,000 pounds. This girl you're looking for, she was pointing something at him when it happened. No flash, though. No noise. This thing she was pointing, did it look like a fountain pen? Yeah. Yeah, that's what I thought it was, now that I think of it. It took us a good ten minutes to bring Ed and his buddy around. Sheriff, what was that thing, you suppose? I'll, uh, I'll let you know when I find out. Sure, appreciate it. I could use one of them things around this place. I went over to the theater next. The manager gave me the address of the cashier who'd worked the night before. Turned out to be Madge Emery, a girl I'd gone to school with. I drove over to her place. Well, Madge remembered her. I think it was that frock you mentioned that caught my eye first. So chick, you know. And the material. Have you seen the dress, Diane? Yeah, I saw it. That's a funny texture. Look like soft steel, if you can imagine such a thing. Do you speak to her, Madge? I sure did. I said, honey, where ever did you get that beautiful dress? She didn't get me at first. In fact, I had quite a time getting through to her. So what happened? Oh, well, it turns out she got it out of town. That's where wish I had. After all, I make it into LA once in a while. No, no, Madge. I mean, what happened to her? Oh, with her. Well, now that was a funny thing. Like I said, I had a time getting through to her. I figured it for Swedish or something like that. And then when she came out... After the picture? After the picture. She sat through the thing three times. Well, when she came out, I was closing the box office. I just couldn't resist talking to her again. And this time... Well, this time she didn't sound foreign at all. Not at all? Well, in fact, Dan, we're showing an old picture now. Penny's from heaven with Irene Dunn. Well, this girl came out sounding just like Irene Dunn. Didn't sound a bit foreign. I thought maybe she was an actress and was just pulling my leg when she went in. Well, I don't think she was kidding. Well, what do you want her for, Dan? She sure didn't seem like the type the sheriff would be after. She on a wanted list or something? No, ma'am. Oh. Well, Dan, even in school, you was always a good picker. If I was a guy, I'd probably be asking a few questions about him myself. Oh, nothing like that, ma'am. This is... Oh, just... What do they call it on television? Yeah, routine investigation. Routine, ma'am, that's all. It sounds like a pretty smart girl. Yep. That kind of made me mad, in a way. Mad? Ever read any science fiction, Bill? Can't say they even know what it is, Dan. Stories about people from other worlds, things like that. Well, most of the stories make these other world people so much smarter than we are it makes us look like a bunch of low-grade morons. Frankly, it burns me up. So I got mad. Well, what'd you do? Drove around town for the rest of the day. I didn't see her anywhere. Did you check at the library? Yeah, she'd taken some books out. That was my lead. The next morning, that was this morning, I staked out the library. I figured if she could learn English in one day, it wouldn't take her too long to read a few books. She came by at about 11 o'clock. I watched her take the books in, and I got out of the car and walked over and waited by the steps. She came back out in less than two minutes. Hello. That was quite a load of books you had there. Not checking any more out? I won't have time. I have to leave this afternoon. Well, there was something I wanted to ask you. What was it? Yesterday, when you almost killed yourself in front of that car. Oh, yes. Well, I'd forgotten for a moment. You see, walking is the only surface transportation allowed where I come from. Everything else is either below ground or over it. That's not what I meant. Why did you cross the street at that particular time? To see you. To see me? Who are a uniform? I thought you might be some kind of a public servant. I needed help. It's as simple as that. You still need help? You believe my story? Well, let's say I've done a little investigating. I'm still shy of few answers. Well, I might be able to supply some. I'm meeting someone for lunch. You want to take me over there? Sure. Here's my car. That is if you don't mind riding on the surface. Why don't you join us for lunch? Uh, if you've got a date. Would you mind if I had a date? Mind? Why should I mind if you had a date? Oh, I don't know. You just sounded a little annoyed. Well, maybe it's none of my business, but you seem to be working pretty fast. I've been on the go every minute. That's not what I meant. I've seen everyone I'm supposed to see except the professor. The professor? The same man who almost ran over me yesterday. Who I see him? I'm supposed to observe the scientific mind in action. What I've read, though, I don't think I'm going to enjoy it much. You'll struggle through it. Did I say something to upset you? You're not always this way. It's nothing you've said. You know, I think I will join you for lunch, Eve. I'd kind of like to see this thing through. I hoped you would. Well, I've had some strange meals in my lifetime and heard some strange table conversations, but I think this one topped them all. Well, the scientific methods of investigation tend to show... You're going to say the energy is lost making up for the initial implosion, professor. Well, scientifically it is quite possible that... I can't accept that. For the first hour, they talked about Einstein and the atomic bomb and Mendel's law and Darwin and evolution, and I... I don't think I understood 15 words of the conversation. For that matter, I don't think the professor understood very much more than I did. But he kept up a good front. He kept humming and hawing about the scientific method and the great quest for truth and dedicated lives. And just before we were ready to leave, well, Eve kicked my foot under the table and followed it up with one direct question. Professor, would you give me just one more answer? Well, I'll try. Would it be possible for a stellar vessel to travel in excess of the speed of light? Faster than 186,000 miles per second? Absolutely not. In fact, I'd say it wouldn't be possible for a spaceship to travel in excess of 185,700 miles per second without turning into nothing but radiation. Is that what you wanted to know? It will do, professor. Thank you very much. She asked me to stop by a supermarket after that. I wondered what kind of investigating she was going to do there. Then she came out with a sack full of groceries. And we headed for the lavendish farm. I... I don't get it. What? Oh, the food? What'd you buy? Oh, just a few things we don't have at home. Peanut butter, tangerines, kosher pickles, lovelies for the family. Oh, you... you... husband, get a kick out of things like that? I'm not married. These are for my mother and father. Oh, maybe you were planning a picnic, you know, wanting to go out to the country and all? I have to meet some people, Dan. I told you that. Look, Eve, don't you think you might give me some idea what all this is about? Dan, Dan, there have been other people here from my world. This was, well, a sort of clean-up investigation. I don't get it. There are quite a few worlds in the universe, Dan. Some of them carry on, well, trade relations, exchange materials and ideas. For a time we thought that your world might be ready to take apart in the exchange. Not so. Not according to my report. But then there are investigators all over this world. Maybe some of the others? No, I don't think so. Things are pretty much the same all over. I thought for a while you'd come to warn us about fooling around with the atom or something like that. Nothing so dramatic, I'm afraid. What is the matter with us, Eve? A combination of things, Dan. Pride, confusion, or a lot of things. Take the professor. He answers questions about deep space and yet he's never seen deep space. He knows almost nothing about it. Yet he was too proud to admit it. He's made science a god. Probably praised through an electronic computer. He's only one man, but I don't think he's alone. And then there's faith. Faith? There's one god, Dan. Why are there so many creeds? Did God give each group of people a different set of rules? No, just one set. One set of ten rules. None of which are unreasonable. And yet your people persist in finding new ways to break them. Know what you mean? In spite of all this, I like your world, Dan. It kind of grows on you. I guess things must look pretty confused here to someone from an older civilization. Older civilization, Dan? Civilization started at about the same time in my world. Then why are you so smart? Why is your world so much more advanced than ours? Why don't we have walls and broken homes and plagues and things like that? Yes. We obey the rules. We have the same ones you have. But then I suppose it's easier for us. Why easier? You remember, Dan, how Adam and Eve were tempted by Satan? On our world. Adam and Eve said no. I was out near the gate of the Lavendish Ranch. Then I watched her from the car as she went into an old mineshaft in the side of the hill. Ten minutes after that, the hill just disappeared. I don't know how it left, whether there was a ship under it or whether there was some other kind of a gadget. All I know is that it's gone and she's gone. And you don't seem too happy about it, huh? It seems to me you might be wasting that long face you're wearing, mooning over a gal that's likely a million miles away by now. What do you mean, Bill? Well, what I mean is, it ain't likely you'll see her again. Oh, I'll see her again. I'll see her five days from today. I'll so. I'll see her in court. You're forgetting. I gave her a ticket for jaywalking. This is Eleanor Powell again. Have you ever seen a little child who is strayed from his mother in some large gathering at, say, a circus or in the crowded streets of a big city? He is lost, alone, terrified. With all his heart he wants to be with her, to grasp her hand, send her protection in her love, but he can't find her. She's gone and there's nothing he can do in his bewilderment, his loneliness, but cry his heart out. It's a pathetic sight. Well, I think a soul that has lost God must feel very much like that, being out of contact with the one who was love and protection and security. Nowhere to turn, no one to help, nothing to look forward to but to spare. But fortunately, there is a way for us to find God again, and it's very much like the method a child uses to find a parent from whom he has been separated. It's the simple act of calling for him in prayer. Prayer is just talking to God, telling him we need him, telling him we're sorry for ever having left him. You've heard it said on this program that more things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. Well, it's true. For the saint and for the sinner and for the millions of us who are in between, daily prayer can work a miracle, the miracle of bringing us closer to the God who made us, keeping us secure in the warmth of his love, his protection. And just an added thought, I don't think there's anything more pleasing in the sight of God than a happy family, mother, father, sisters and brothers, working together and of course, playing together in close harmony. Now imagine how much more pleasing that family is to God that joins together each evening in daily family prayer. And believe me, I know it's true. The family that prays together stays together. More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. Joe Curley and Robert Emlin. The script was written and directed for Family Theatre by Robert Hugh O'Sullivan with music composed and conducted by Harry Zimmerman. This series of Family Theatre broadcasts is made possible by the thousands of you who feel the need for this type of program, by the mutual network which has responded to this need, and by the hundreds of stars have stayed screen and radio who give so unselfishly of their time and talent to appear on our Family Theatre stage. To them and to you, our humble thanks. This is Tony Lofrano expressing the wish of Family Theatre that the blessing of God may be upon you and your home and inviting you to be with us next week when Family Theatre will present Slaughterhouse Row starring Bula Bondi. Jack Bailey will be your host. Join us, won't you? Family Theatre is broadcast throughout the world and originates in the Hollywood studios of the world's largest network. The Future, the radio network for all America.