 stand by for crime Chuck Morgan you know right now just about every large American city has a threat of communism it's an insidious thing dangerous and a little bit frightening in some cities it's worse than others here in Los Angeles where I work as a newscaster and radio station KOP we feel that the threat is more than frightening it's a menace that must be stamped out of our way of life is to survive most any day you can turn the dial of your radio or pick up a newspaper and read where the committee on un-American activities is investigating some well-known Hollywood celebrity it gives you a queer feeling when you see those familiar names you wonder who's going to be next and why and you find yourself groping for an answer to this disease but it's doing its best to undermine Americanism those were the thoughts were running through my mind when I came into my office a few weeks ago and found the script for my 7 o'clock broadcast lying on my desk I read it through and got a jolt that set me back on my heels just as I finished my blonde secretary Carol Curtis came in hi Chuckie boy hi who wrote this who wrote what this script my 7 o'clock broadcast oh oh I forgot to tell you a puppy wrote it he asked me to leave it on your desk happy for sure what's wrong with that after all Chuck happy owns KOP and if he wants never mind now you get at that typewriter knock out another script this one's out see you later okay Mary it'll be on the air tonight goodbye oh hello Chuck what's on your mind you know what's on my mind that the what kind of trip is this you want me to broadcast tonight try pay wait a minute I wrote that script so Carol said are you out of your mind happy it's loaded with red propaganda I know it is you know now hold it happy this I don't believe sit down Chuck and I'll tell you about it and better make a good Chuck if you use this script on your broadcast tonight there'll be a storm of protest it'll start your ears ringing don't worry I'm not going to use a matter of fact if listener reaction becomes too great I may have to go so far as to give you the can I've already told you I hate to have to do it Chuck but after all I've got the station and its policies to think of you'd probably have a tough time getting another job yeah yeah I probably would now suppose we cut out the double talk and you give me the pitch suppose that did happen Chuck suppose I did have to fire you and I would if you use that script what do you think would happen let's not try to find out I'll tell you what I think would happen you're a pretty important guy your opinion carries a lot of weight the communists know that so so sooner or later you'd be approached maybe offered a job on some other station they'd have a well worked out plan where and you could be of service to the cause I'm still hazy on this happy but if you think that I'm gonna finish will you please now if that should happen you'd be in a position to put your finger on Mr. Big Mr. Big the FBI knows there's a big man here in LA a very big man maybe a high government official who's head of the communist they want to know who he is and they think I can look in it's a chance that I'm not going to take what do you take me for happy it might be weeks or even years before I could pull that chestnut out of the fire I might never do it and all that time I wouldn't have a friend in the world I'd be despised by everyone but if you succeeded in doing the job you'd have performed a service for your country that may be measured in human lives and freedom and a way of life we want to keep an operation it's a thankless job it might be except to those who are close to you like myself and Carol Curtis after it's over she know after it's over you mean that even Carol wouldn't know one's going to know about this Chuck but myself and the FBI it's got to look like the real McCoy you sound as if you expect me to do it I do oh you do well get this pretty good country Chuck let's do what little we can to keep it that way you've exposed plenty of other records why not this one is it because you don't like the idea of being inconvenienced a little now wait a minute I never said you had everything your own way before with the police department behind you and the station behind you and every honest citizen in town behind you now that you've got a toughie coming up what are you gonna do chicken out why you won't go down don't let anyone tell you you're not a salesman because you're not I just happen to like you that's all which means you'll do it which means I'll do it happy but only under the condition that if I'm stoned out of town you'll give me my job back when I bring you Mr. Big's ears I made the broadcast and the storm a protest began to come in almost at once studio phones ringing before my 15 minutes were up Kara Curtis was waiting for me when I got back to my office this I knew was going to be the worst ordeal of all I was glad it was first would be over quickly yes that's right Mary over calls until I let you know hi grandma first what are you holding calls for I want to talk to you okay go ahead and talk I heard the broadcast naturally it's all the jobs you paid for what's behind a Chuck behind what you know what I'm talking about you know what those telephone calls were about you didn't mean any of those things you mentioned while you were on the air did you of course I meant them but Chuck it it was red stuff it was on America don't be silly it depends how you look at it well at least half the city is looking at it the wrong way golly I'll be glad when it gets to be 11 o'clock and you can tell everybody you were kidding I wasn't kidding now look you get paid to be my secretary not my critic get over to that type right stop it Chuck I want to know the truth did you mean those things you said yes yes I meant them my man's got a right to his own opinion hasn't he not when it smells to high heaven of trees and he hasn't freedom of speech doesn't mean you can yell fire in a crowded theater fire in a crowded theater what a comparison look you're making a mountain out of a molehill and I get out of my hair and go back to work no what do you mean no I mean that unless you give me some explanation of that broadcast I'm through I'm not going to work for a red lover oh you're not we would get oh hello Pappy I'm an outside listening to most of this conversation I don't like it Chuck what's your answer answer to what the Carol's request for an explanation of your broadcast she doesn't get it neither do you I say what I please and no one tells me any differently and we get to scram so I can go to work my 11 o'clock show oh so you think you're a pretty big man do you say anything you please and no one tells you differently well let me tell you something there isn't going to be any 11 o'clock broadcast by Chuck Morgan not on k.o.p. you're fired well it was a pretty good act care was convinced all right I don't believe I'll ever forget the expression of disbelief and horror and hurt on her face when I walked out of that office gave me a queer feeling of hopelessness as though I've been convicted of a crime I hadn't committed and lost the respect and love of the one person who was most important in my life which of course is more or less true but I didn't have much time to think about it right then even though only 10 minutes of the lap since I'd finished that broadcast it was a small and angry crowd gathered at the entrance of the fenced-in parking lot they were waiting for me the studio cop was holding them back this was most unexpected wasn't it easy to take I walked over to my car and got in the crowd at the gate was getting bigger another cop had arrived I decided if I were going to get out of there with my whole hide I'd better be now I started up and headed for the gate fast and second gear the cops opened a hole in my head for it then I saw a woman break into the path of my headlights and I had to slow down someone pulled her back into the crowd but I'd almost stopped something can sail into the air my car weren't equipped with unbreakable glass if I would have been not silly that made me mad I rammed on the brake stop within ten feet and got out all right you bums come and get it that was a mistake it taught me a lesson they didn't come and get it they came and got me I was taken home in an ambulance and left nursing my wounds by a couple of sympathetic interns at 11 o'clock I snapped on the radio happy Mansfield came on what ordinarily would have been my last broadcast of the day with a special announcement good evening ladies and gentlemen this is John Mansfield president of KOP broadcasting company I have an announcement to make that will interest you all Charles Chuck Morgan was dismissed from his duties as a newscaster on this station early this evening most of you know why for those of you who don't I'll tell you why Charles Morgan is a communist he admitted it early this evening and this station will have no part of happy sounded convincing too convincing I began wondering if on the time came he'd be able to convince people I was a loyal American citizen and loved being one that hopeless not belonging feeling swept over me again and it grew worse during the next few days I hope the Carol might phone but she didn't I tried calling a few of my friends just to feel them out and got a brush off in every case but I didn't realize how seriously I was ostracized and how I began looking for a job that was a plan for me to look for a job and get one if I could and naturally started in on the other radio stations Mr. Morgan Mr. Adams told me if you showed up around here to have you thrown out you'll get a nerve coming around here Morgan get out are you nuts Morgan think I want to lose every advertiser I have by hiring a red now wait a minute won't he even talk to me back to care of the radio stations happy should feel proud of the job he'd done on me so next I went to work on the newspapers only this time I decided to save myself a lot of humiliation by using the phone the secretaries of the first two publishers I call gave me a fast brush I expected the same from the third a Los Angeles weekly news ledger I didn't get it this was a surprise a ledger conservative weekly news magazine was owned by a man named Travis Bullard Bullard a powerfully built lantern job man had the reputation for fine principles and square dealings when his secretary told him I was on the wire he sent back word he'd like to have me come over for talk this was the first sympathetic piece of dialogue I'd had more than a week it sounded so good I turned into an eager beaver I got down to the ledger office in less than an hour cooled my heels in an outside waiting room for another hour and then was I should end to see Travis Bullard hello Mr. Bullard hello Morgan you're looking for a job are you sure I am not used to hanging around doing nothing it's not good for men no that's right still feel the same way you did about things when you made that broadcast last week now look Mr. Bullard if you're going to hold that answer the question all right I'll answer it yes I feel the same way I thought you might that's why I asked you to come down here Oh yeah I wanted to tell you face to face what a lowdown sneaking rat you are I wanted to remind you that America is better off without dirty stupid traitors like yourself that I'm going to do everything in my power to see that you and all like you are thrown out on your ear you're like so many others Morgan you take advantage of all the fine things that America has to offer you come to accept these things as your rightful heritage and it never occurs to you that it's your responsibility to help keep that heritage intact instead you turn to some stinking small minded philosophy that isn't worth the power to blow it that's why I asked you down here Morgan to tell you what I thought and to do this just for the record I'd like to say that if you're an American citizen enjoying the privileges that America has to offer your lucky for the first time in my life I was deprived of my heritage and therefore for the first time I was knowing it's real worth freedom of speech freedom from fear the sense of belonging of knowing that I was a part of this great America that what I said was important but as an individual I was needed and wanted and not a sheep that instinctively and blindly followed a leader now I was deprived of these blessings I was in the outside looking in I was the man without a country hated despised rejected by the free society I loved it was tough I thought that if I ever got back myself respect I'd never again complain about anything that was American one night I was eating dinner in a joint down on lower finds down oh yeah sure but you better wait a minute I want you to know who I am first you might change your mind I know who you are your Chuck Morgan yeah that's right still want to sit down cause you look so lonesome and for alone sitting here by yourself I guess that's about the scribe that I am lonesome and for learn have a drink no no thank you this is unbelievable you have no friends no I'm poisoned to everybody I used to know then perhaps you'd like to beat some new friends yeah sure look don't waste your time miss I've called me Maria okay Maria don't waste your time no one wants any part of me I think perhaps you are wrong yeah well then you don't read the papers oh yes I read the papers every day and listen to the radio too especially the news broadcasts on KOP I see then if you are sure that you do see perhaps you would like to join me and some of my friends at a small gathering we are having when this evening I'm sure you'll find many sympathetic people among those present sounds like fun should we go we drove out to a small stucco house on a side street off Washington Boulevard in cover city there were half dozen people inside nice ordinary looking people they all shook hands with me warmly nobody said anything about the broadcast that got me fired in fact nothing much of anything happened around 11 o'clock the meeting broke up and I drove Maria home the next day I met her for lunch and two nights later we attended another meeting this time it was at a house in Glendale none of the same people were there but this new bunch were just as friendly one of them was a guy named George Zerber and he gave me my first inkling about the score nice bunch of people don't you think mr. Morgan come at Chuck yeah that's well our things going with you lousy kind of tough getting a job when you don't happen to think along the lines of certain people and it's murder eat any dough yeah yeah I could use a few bucks here's a hundred and don't worry about paying it back well thanks forget it everything of leaving LA well I may have to if I don't get a break pretty soon how about the East Coast it's okay there's a couple of radio stations there that could use a good newscaster with the right ideas well the high I mean though every station the country knows about it being fired it could be arranged I see how about though you could practically name your own figure if you obeyed orders who'd be giving me orders the big man himself when do I get to meet him Maria will let you know what this was it apparently my indoctrination period was about over now I knew I'd been closely watched I guess that my telephone lines have been tapped and I congratulated myself and not having attempted to get in touch with Papi or anyone else I guess it was a genuine sense of loneliness that I'd felt that made my act pay off well three nights later Maria and I went to the Vine Street Derby for dinner a long time since I've eaten here in the East you will be able to go many places and hold your head up oh you know about that I know about many things I'm waiting for the answer to one yes you will be home tomorrow evening at 7 o'clock could be arranged someone good call perhaps the big man let us speak of him as the leader and by the way you will be one of the few who know his identity I must mean that the job he has for me must be pretty important extremely so must be plenty sure I'm the real thing the leader does not make mistakes you have been carefully checked good I'll be glad to get started incidentally do I know the leader you know I I don't want to get too much of a shock he will be shocked then I do know my you know him very well that's very interesting well until tomorrow night then a toast to the leader and my new job the next day was the longest I'd ever lived it was hard to believe that the ordeal of the past few weeks was nearly over that almost as soon as tomorrow I'd be able to sit in front of a microphone a KLP and tell the world that I was an American and glad of it by 6 30 I was so nervous my hands were trembling I went into the kitchen and put myself a straight shot I was still there when the door buzzers I got up feeling a sense of anticipation that was almost theory then I forgot that forgot everything in fact the job at hand crossed the door I knew the man who was standing there all right knew him very well indeed it was happy in bands field never mind that now we're gonna hide hi do you realize I realize everything get me out of sight in a hurry okay come in in there keep away from the windows good deal see you later see you later you bet he'd see me later the old goat didn't he realize he almost lost up two weeks of work on my part I didn't have much time to think about it less than two minutes later the buzzer sounded again this time I thought it was going to be the McCoy hello check surprised a yeah yeah I thought that you're sorry about that crack on the jaw my boy but I had to make sure you were convinced I wasn't the leader you convinced me all right and you convinced me and the other members of our little group that you weren't working a gag you'll make a good member of the party son I'm glad to have you with us thanks now let's get down to business shall we you'll find all your instructions in this envelope in two days you'll leave for New York one of our agents will meet you at the airport anything else in the envelope one of the first things you'll have to learn my boy is not to ask questions just obey orders but since you're new to the organization I'll let you in on a few things that envelope is loaded with information about the future plans of a couple of our biggest airplane plants you mean that you but how the Los Angeles weekly news ledger is a big and powerful magazine my boy and the man as well trusted as I well there are ways now then Travers Bullard well this is a day I never expected to see Mansfield Morgan did you I mean for two weeks we tried to trip you up no I don't believe it our organization is too perfect we never make mistakes you've made one bullet of beauty all the evidence we need to put you where you belong is contained right here in this envelope now you'll never expose me never I've worked too hard there's too much at stake watch him Chuck he's got a gun yes I see he has that makes things even the man behind him has one too you can't fool me with that one it's too old and corny now stand over there both of you so it yourself Bullard if you figure that dying is better than prison look up happy tripped over a rug and bullets expecting a trick at swung on him which was my cue to repay with interest that crack on the joy given me down at the ledger office Bullard however was a powerful man and it took a lot of doing to get him under control his gun went off in the breakers but it didn't hurt anybody he's still alive those of you who listen to my broadcast no worries now he's got a private room in a big gray building with iron bars on the window Papi and I got back to the station around 10 o'clock here's your office Papi now tell me what was the idea of almost lousying up my good work by showing up at the apartment five minutes before Bullard arrived because it occurred to me at the last minute the two witnesses to his dialogue would be more effective at a trial especially with you having seemingly gone over to the red I see you're right well as it turned out the information contained in the envelope would have been enough that's right trouble is I didn't know they were going to be an envelope well anyhow it's okay now oh she's waiting for you in your office good night so long Papi it's good to be back see you hi Grime opus hi check your scripts ready for the 11 o'clock broadcast want to read it over I don't know what's in the facts about you exposing Travis Bullard okay how'd you know about that Papi phone me did he now mm-hmm I see you're all in a sweat about having me back I knew you'd be back okay how'd you know that well I figured it out you weren't ramming out of here that night Papi wrote your script and yelling at me to write another and then you came back and said you were going to use the one Papi wrote oh I'm not so dumb no is a matter of fact you know we're near as don't you say it don't you dare if you tell me once more I'm not as dumb as I look I'll I'll bring you with this type writer you know something rather first what you're a ham why you're putting on an act what you really want to do is ball and fling your arms around my neck and tell me you're glad to have me back I don't I don't at all I I oh