 Family Theater presents Will Rogers Jr. and Marshall Thompson. From Hollywood, the Mutual Network in Cooperation with Family Theater presents Skin Deep, starring Marshall Thompson. Now, here is your host, Will Rogers Jr. 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 our transcribed drama, Skin Deep, starring Marshall Thompson as Jim. Just before I slipped on the mouthpiece of the dining mask, I remember looking down at the right shoulder strap that held my aqua lung in place. The buckle on the strap was bent. The time, it didn't seem important. But now it's the only proof I have of what I think happened. It's the one thing that convinces me I didn't dream at all. Anything wrong, Jim? Strap buckle. Does it scratch? No, no, it's okay. How do you feel? Pretty good. They're putting out storm warnings. Wind's up to 25 knots. Won't be rough down below. You want me to brush that newspaper guy? Which one's that? I told you about him. Fella from Nassau. Down there by the winch wearing the Panama hat. I don't mind talking to him if you won't take too long. Hey, mister. To me? Still want your interview? Oh, indeed I do. I'll be right with you. What's his name, you know? Ford, I think. I'm not sure. Mr. Morris? How you doing? I'm Gregory Forks. Oh, you know Curly? Yes, indeed. Mr. Nelson. I don't want to rush you, but... Oh, yes, I understand perfectly. Just a few background questions. It's what you do down there that will write the real story. Okay. When did you first take up this skin diving? The last summer. And what's the deepest you've ever gone? 200 feet. The present record is... 306. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there a Frenchman who almost reached 400 feet? He reached 396, but when they pulled him up, he was drowned. Ah, yeah. Well, how far do you expect to plunge this afternoon, Mr. Morris? I'm going to try for 400. Oh, best of luck. Oh, one last thing. When I was assigned this story yesterday, I read up all I could on skin diving, and I came across a thing called nitrogen narcosis, supposed to be a kind of giddiness that attacks divers at great depths. That's right. Ever been bothered by it? Not so far. I understand it affects the central nervous system, and that it can destroy the instinct for life. And so I hear. It doesn't seem possible anything could do that. Curly just told you about that Frenchman. Yes. When they got him to the surface, they found his diving mask had been pulled off his face. You think he pulled it off himself? Well, he was the only one down there. It was exactly nine minutes past noon when I let myself over the side and started down through the green silent depths. Gradually, the throbbing of the motor launch grew fainter. At 50 feet, I stopped by the anchor-weighted cable, marking my descent, to equalize the air pressure with my breathing apparatus. I looked down the thin strand of wire with its white depth markers that disappeared into shadowy blackness below me. Seven more to go. You could pull the markers off as you descended, or you could wait until you got to the one you were shooting for and pull that. I had decided to wait. At 150 feet, the water was much cooler and darker. At 200 feet, I stopped once more to equalize the pressure. I'd been right about the subsurface conditions. It was calm down here. The cable was absolutely motionless. I looked again at the white marker. 200 feet. That was as far down as I'd ever been, and I felt fine. When I got to the 250 marker, I was tempted to pull it. Then I remember there was an oceanographer up on the surface taking echosoundings. They know I'd made 250. He was telling them right now. I started down again. By the time I reached 300 feet, it had begun. The thing every diver feels. The sleepy, contented feeling of absolute mastery over the sea. This was the deepest part of the Atlantic. I was out beyond the land shelf of the islands. There was over two miles of ocean below me. Once more, I started down. Is he still alive? He is breathing. Do not remove his facepiece until we see how he responds. Very well. Where did you find him? Down on the shore of the lagoon. Can you hear me? Who is it? We are going to lift up one corner of your facepiece if you can still breathe without effort, not your head. Ready? Yes. Any difficulty? No. That's all right. Guess I blacked out on the dive. Where'd you pick me up? Not far from here. You had better shut off that air container. Oh, yeah. I'm surprised I got carried so far from the launch. How close are we to Nassau? I am afraid you do not know where you are. What do you mean? Do you notice anything about the roof of this chamber? It's rock, like the roof of a cave. It is a cave. From what we have been able to piece together, it and all the caves connected to it are part of a huge undersea mountain shaped like an inverted cone that is in some way anchored to your landmass. Oh, now look, like a joke as much as the next man. I assure you, I am not joking. You're trying to tell me I'm in some kind of a city beneath the ocean? We would hardly call it a city. Overall, it is much larger than that. And it has no urban life in the sense that you would mean. I don't think this is very funny. We are trying to explain what has happened to you and how you got here. Perhaps, if we show you... All I want you to show me is the way out of here. Gladly. Although we cannot vouch for its safety. Would you follow us please? The older the two men stepped across to the opening of the cave-like chamber in which we had been sitting, they came to join him. We came out on a rough narrow ledge and looked out across a great high cavern. Far below us, I could make out the black waters of what looked like an underground lake. As we started down the ledge to the shoreline, we noticed for the first time where the light was coming from. It was as if whole strips of the rocky walls of the cavern were glowing like hot coals. How do you get the rock to shine like that? It is igneous rock. Actually, it is on fire. Go on. Put your hand against it. You can feel the warmth. How do I be? How'd you get it started? According to the legend, it has always been burning. It provides both heat and light. If it went out, we would die. And who do you mean we? You and your partner here? No, he means all of us. All our people. How many does that include? Upwards of 10,000. I want to put this to you straight. I don't know how I got into this little cave. All right, big. But I believe people are entitled to live the way they want to. You like living underground, walking around in sandals and letting your hair grow long? That's fine with me. You do not seem to understand. Sure I do. I like skin diving. Some people think it's crazy, but I like it, so I go ahead and do it. Every man to his own taste. If you would be good enough to accompany us to the upper heights, we might be able to convince you. Look, I want to get out of here. Just show me how and we'll call it square, huh? As you wish. Come along. What did you mean by the upper heights? Actually, it would correspond to the communal center. It is where most of us live more accurately. It is the hub of the area around which most of us live. Caves like this? No, they are much larger. Some of them stretch for miles. Is there no way out up at that end? No. Or at least, if one exists, we have been unable to find it. How long have you been looking? According to the written records, the localized expedition took place almost a thousand years ago. Do you honestly expect me to believe that? No. Why are we stopping here? Because, to the best of our knowledge, this is your only way out. What's my only way out? The lagoon. Do you see that flat stretch of rock up near the far end? Yes. That is where you were found a little while ago. Apparently, you were picked up by the incoming current that runs under this section of the mountain shelf and thrown up on the shore of the lagoon here. You mean I have to get out the way I came in? The underground channel is the only way. But if that current was strong enough to wash me in here, I won't have a chance trying to swim out against it. No, no, I did not mean that. You must swim with the current, letting it take you down through the channel at the far end of the lagoon and thence out to the ocean on the other side. Well, how long is the channel? We cannot be sure, of course, never having been through it. But it's all underwater? We are almost certain of that. We are standing at the narrowest part of the submerged mountain. We have calculated that this must be the floating or unanchored side of it projecting out into the sea since over the years the water level in the lagoon has risen by as much as ten fathoms. You're really telling me the truth? We are telling you what we believe to be the truth. Necessarily, much of it is speculation. Well, who are you? What country are you from? We have great difficulty deciding that ourselves. Some of us hold we are descended from the ancient Italians, others the Egyptian. How would you speak English? Some of us speak as many as 20 languages. But if you lived your whole lives here, how could you? If you would like proof, we can furnish it to you. What sort of proof? Something you can see with your own eyes, touch with your hands. Where? See up along that far wall of the cavern, the large entryway carved into the face of the rock. Yes. The proof is in the chamber beyond that entryway. Would you care to see it? I followed the two men along the edge of the lagoon and up a gentle slope to the entrance at the end of the cavern. It opened onto a long, low-ceiling cave that extended back into the rock for almost 100 feet. The chamber seemed warmer and more brightly lighted in the cavern. But its walls were lined with what at first glance looked like the biggest collection of junk I had ever seen. This is our museum, our first one. There is a more complete collection in the upper heights, but that covers a much later period. Where'd you get this stuff? Most of it came in through the channel just as you did. Over how long a period? You can judge that for yourself by examining some of the items. Do you recognize this? It looks like a piece of curved metal. Can you read the inscription on that stone tablet beneath it? I didn't even know it was an inscription. What is it? Hieroglyphics? Not exactly. It is called cuneiform writing, the language of our earliest ancestors. What's it say? It reads, taken from the Shelf Lagoon on the 14th of Abh Sharani in the year 3509. 3509? You must remember that our original calendars were dated from the time of our ancestors' escape to the land above the lagoon. Abh Sharani is early Assyrian for the 10th month, October. Escape from what? From the sea that overwhelmed them. Your mythology refers to their country as Atlantis. There never was such a country. Not under that name, no. And it was more than one nation and one race, but it did exist. But how can you have a calendar if you don't know when it's day or night? We use the light from the walls. It seems to have a higher energy component, such as you get from the sun. Light the sun, it brightens and darkens and cycles. If you are telling the truth, how do you know anything about the sun? You've never seen it. Step over here. More stone tablets? The very oldest in our possession. If we have any culture at all, these were its foundation. Don't tell me they were washed into the lagoon? On the contrary. They were the work of the first people to spend their lives here. The first survivors. On these tablets, they inscribed every bit of learning they had brought with them. And of course, that included knowledge of the sun, moon, stars, planets. And just from this stuff you sell, has you been able to build this? The word we like to use is civilization. Well, I think I might be just crazy enough to believe you except for one thing. The submerged mountain? How did you know? It is the phenomenon we find most difficult to explain to our children once they acquire a basic understanding of physics. Well, I don't even have that, but I know water seeks its own level. Exactly. What do you mean exactly? If that rule holds in here, the water level of this lagoon should be the same as the sea level outside. We are convinced that it is. But what you are overlooking is the depth of the lagoon. In some places, it is as much as 40 fathoms. What's the difference no matter how deep it goes? If this is as high as it gets, the rest of the mountain must rise out of the water. Yes. That is why our ancestors sought so long for a surface exit. They realized the same thing. Then what's the depth of the lagoon got to do with it? I believe Reese thought you were asking why our ancestors had never tried to escape via the lagoon. Well, I can figure that. It's too deep. If they had had a breathing apparatus such as yours, it might have been possible. But... Do you think your people would still want to escape? I... I do not believe so. Would either of you like to? I got in here once. Maybe I could get back. You must not think now that I am presuming to speak for all our people in every society. There are those who are malcontent, impatient, some simply adventurous, and to them your offer might have an appeal. But to most of us leaving here would promise only terrible dislocation. This is our world. It is a world we feel into which we have been placed by design. Just as we are convinced the igneous walls provide us with light and energy by design. For that reason, generations of us have striven to find a culture, a heritage, even a destiny within the walls of this world of ours. But... don't you believe you'll eventually leave your world? By all means, just as you believe you will eventually leave yours, but not via lagoon. I see what you mean. Well, it's just a thought. Probably wouldn't be able to get back here anyhow. I trust you will understand our not mentioning your visit to the others. Sure. Could we ask the same of you? I mean, you don't want me to say anything about this when I get back to the surface? It could be very serious for us if you did. You see, we have always known about your world. We learned of it from the tablets and what we found in the lagoon. We take you for granted, but that would not be the case if your world were to learn of ours. I suppose it wouldn't. We would be sought out and discovered in a way destroyed. Yeah, I guess you would at that. Your silence could prevent any such possibility. That's kind of a big secret to keep. But will you? Sure. No one would believe me anyhow. We had considered using that argument if all others failed. Well, here's the lagoon. I guess this is goodbye. Goodbye? We will not forget you. That goes double with me and not just because there's two of you. You will find, I think, that the channel current is strongest out toward the center of the lagoon. Oh, good enough. That better put on my mask. If you will swim to the center on the surface, we will give you the exact location. Oh, fine. A bit farther. Well, almost a little now. That should be about the place. How far down is the channel? About 20 fathons. Good enough. We will express our full gratitude when next we meet. What do you mean, next? Where's that gonna be? In the other world. Beyond both of ours. Okay. I'll be seeing it. Water was absolutely black. I had no sense of swimming down toward the channel. It was a feeling of being drawn to it. In fact, everything was a feeling. I saw nothing. I heard nothing. I touched nothing. There was only the silent, powerful pull of something I couldn't understand. Something that seemed almost to be inside of me. Something fundamental. Something that was part of my nature. I remember thinking, this is the way iron filings must respond to a magnet. And then I don't remember anything. Give me a second. I'll give you a hand. All right? Hang on. Stretch them out on the deck. Get that lung off it. Want me to take off his mask, too? Yeah, go ahead. I'll get this tank off his back. I wonder how deep he went. Well, we marked him at 350 before the echo sound had went out. There we go. Put it over by that other lung, will you? Right there. Jim. Slap his face a bit. Jim. Jim, you all right? Well... Hey, he's coming around. Jim, it's me. Curly. Find the channel. Too dark. Couldn't see anything. Jim, you're okay. It's Curly. You're back on the launch. Curly? We thought you were a goner. You were down there almost 20 minutes. 20? Come on, let's get you in the cabin under some blankets. Can you stand up, Mr. Morris? Yeah. Yeah, I think so. That's so, boy. Come on, now we'll get you out of this sun. Only... Only 20 minutes? Sure, 20 minutes. How much oxygen do you think you had a couple of days worth? I guess it could have been just 20 minutes at that. That's all it was. We just talked. We never went to the upper heights. Sure, sure, sure. Now, come on. We'll get you in here on a bunk. There you go, Mr. Morris. Over here. Okay, okay now. Just lie down, Jim. Stretch out your legs. What? Feels good. Can... Can you talk a little? Yeah, sure, sure. How come you didn't pull any markers? I was going to wait until I got to 400. Too bad you didn't make it. What? What do you mean I didn't? I made it. I went past the end of the cable. Way past it. How come you didn't pull a marker? I don't know. I just didn't feel like it. I just didn't, that's all. I wish you had. What's the difference? You got it on the echo sounder. I didn't get it on the echo sounder. Why not? The last reading we got was 350 and it conked out on us. You had a scared to death. How come? We thought you were wearing a bad tank. What... What bad tank? Oxygen tank. One of them had a leak. If you'd gone down wearing that one, you wouldn't have lasted five minutes under the water. What do you mean? It was almost out, that's what I mean. We didn't find out about it until you'd gone. What's the difference? It sure wasn't the one you were wearing or you wouldn't have made it back here. Could you tell one tank from the other? Sure, I think so. Come on. I want to see it. Jim, take it easy. You're weak as a kitten. I want to see the bad tank. Come on. What's the difference? It makes a difference to me. Come on. There you are on the deck. What's all about, Jim? Well, I don't really know now. You remember the one you took off in Forbes? Well, I... I'm not exactly sure. It both dried out in the sun. Oh, yeah. I think it was this one. What's the reading, Curly? I think he's right. This one's almost out. That's the tank I used. I remember that bent strap buckle. No reason why it shouldn't be almost out. You were down better than 20 minutes. That juice up almost a full tank. It must be the bad one. The one with only five minutes of air in it? Well, sure. I'll show you on the gauge. What's wrong? It's full. This is the good one. That's what I thought. Well, you couldn't have worn the other one. It only had five minutes of oxygen in it. But I did wear the other one. You couldn't have. You were down for 20 minutes. What are you trying to tell me? You held your breath for 15? No. No, that'd be impossible, wouldn't it? I can't think about the other tank. It must have been okay all the time. I can't think of any other explanations. Can you, Jim? No. It's a... It's a sense you can't breathe underwater. This is Will Rogers Jr. again. I read something the other day that struck me so forcefully I'd just like to pass it on to you. I'm not sure where I read it. Not even sure I've got the exact wording. But this was the main thought. That God, at death, will not judge us by how large an obituary we get in the New York Times or daily variety. But rather, in one instant he will look into the eyes and hearts of our family, our employees, our friends, our neighbors, our acquaintances, literally everyone with whom we've ever come into contact during our lifetime, and he will know. A frightening thought, isn't it? That so many thousands of people will have a say in our final judgment. The shoe shine boy that shined our shoes 15 years ago. The counter girl that serves us our lunch every day. A school chum that we haven't seen for 30 years. How would we rate in the eyes of these people? Most of all, how would we rate in the eyes of the people that know us best? Our own family. They're the ones closest to us. The ones with whom we live and work and play, and, if we're smart, the ones with whom we pray, too. For if, in our big moment of judgment, God can look into the hearts of our family and find that they were daily joined together and lifted to him in prayer, he will share his glory with us and our family forever. It's true on earth that it is for all eternity in heaven. The family that prays together stays together. More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. From Hollywood, Family Theater has brought you transcribed Skin Deep starring Marshall Thompson. Will Rogers Jr. was your host. Others in our cast were Edgar Berrier, Tom Holland, Billy Baugham, and Bob Emlin. The script was written and directed for Family Theater by John T. Kelly with music composed and conducted by Harry Zimmerman. This series of Family Theater broadcasts are the reasons 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 of stage, screen and radio who give so unselfishly their time and talent to appear on our Family Theater stage. To them and to you, our humble thanks. This is Tony Lafranco expressing the wish of Family Theater that the blessing of God may be upon you and your home and inviting you to be with us next week when Family Theater will present The Flash starring Jean Hagen. General Carlos Romulo will be your host. Join us, won't you? And I'll stay tuned for John Holbrook reporting the latest news on the newspaper of the air which follows immediately. This is the Mutual Don Lee Broadcasting System.