 RCA Victor, world leader in radio, first in recorded music, first in television, proudly presents... Mr. Playhouse star, Edward G. Robinson, production, The Seawolf, director, Michael Curtiz. The Hollywood screen directors present a Chronicle of Evil, the motion picture drama, The Seawolf, starring Edward G. Robinson in his original role of Wolf Larson. January 12, 1904, schooner ghost. Cleared San Francisco harbour in heavy fog, picked up two survivors of ferryboat Martinez, ram by steamer, man or woman. Woman more dead than alive. They may both wish they'd been left to drown before this voyage is over. January 14, making six knots in variable winds. The pair we skimmed out of the bay are going to be as worthless as most human beings. The woman is still unconscious, and, uh, Louie, our doctor is still drunk as usual. The man is squeamish, educated, and, uh, moral. Ha-ha-ha. He didn't like the way we treated my first mate, a villa, or the way I held funeral services for him on deck. The part of the burial service, and that's, uh... and the body shall be cast into the sea. So cast it in. Silly, dirty, rump-swelling sod. Captain Larson, the man is dead. Yes, dead and committed to the impersonal sea, correct. He didn't just die, he was beaten to death. Oh, that's hard. I confess I struck him lightly if you didn't. Lightly? Yes, but, uh, no amount of stimulation could restore the man from his excess of room. Now, tell me, what do you do when you're not being shipwrecked? I'm a newspaper reporter. Oh, writer, huh? What do you write? I write what I see. Well, is this the first time you've seen a man die? It's the first time I've seen such indifference to death. Well, this white is going to teach you something. I expect you to put me and the girl ashore at the first port of call. This is a ceiling schooner. The ghost doesn't sail the regular shipping lanes, and we touch no ports. You're on this ship until we return to Frisco in six months. There's such a thing as a law. There is. On this ship, I am the law. What's your name? Humphrey Van Wyden. Elegant. And the girl's name? Ruth Webster. My name is Captain Larson. Captain or Sir? I've heard of you. How have you now? Wolf Larson, skipper of the ghost, refuge of cutthroats and thieves. In whose service, Van Wyden, you are now cabin boy. Cabin boy? Yes, Van Wyden, cabin boy. We carry provisions only for the crew. Well, Van Wyden? Very well. Very well, sir. You're working for Wolf Larson now. Cookie said you wanted me. Yes, come in, Van Wyden. Look around you. It's surprising, isn't it? Books. Hundreds of books. Shakespeare, Tennyson, Poe, Plato. I hadn't expected to find such things from the cabin to Wolf Larson. A brutal callous inhuman creature, master of a brutish crew. Huh? Where'd you hear that? A man who tries to acquire dignity by destroying the dignity of others. I read it, Van Wyden. Cookie gave me some notes you're compiling on the voyage. He had no right to steal them. I've also been rereading Milton's Paradise Lost. Have you ever read Paradise Lost, Van Wyden? I've read it. Listen to this. I've read it. I said listen. Here, at least, we shall be free. Here, we may reign secure. And in my choice, rain is worth ambition, though in hell. Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven. Lucifer speaking. Yes, Milton understood the devil, didn't he? Yes. You're right rather well yourself. College? College? Hm. A brutal callous inhuman creature, master of a brutish crew. Yes, I dare say in your set, people aren't a brutal callous inhuman lot. No. They didn't have to struggle for bread. You don't have to live in a world where your hand is turned against every man, even your only brother. If you ever write about this, boys, don't forget to write about the bleak, harsh coast where I was born. My mother and father, peasants of the sea, who sowed their sons upon the waves and got nothing in return but hunger and misery. Five brothers I had. Four. Four of them drowned like crats and lay focussles of leaking grotten ships that should have been condemned. I turned world to stay alive and my hand was against everything, posing in God's image, even my own brother. I want all of that written down. You hear? I want all of it. Yes? Would you come below that, Captain Larson? Why, Johnson? The woman, sir. I think she's dying. Dying? Captain. Well, let Louie take care of her. He's a doctor. He's drunk, sir. He's always drunk. Go along, Van Wyden. This might give you something else to put in that book you're going to write. Van Wyden, fine day. You drunken parody of a doctor. How's the girl? Please, don't let them take me back. What's she muttering about, Van Wyden? I don't know. I'd rather die. I don't want to go back to prison. Prison? I'd rather die. You hear that, Johnson? Prison. She's one of us. A jailbird! Captain Larson. Well, now tell us about your charming friend, Van Wyden. I met her on the ferry boat. I knew she was an escaped prisoner. I'd convinced her to give herself up and serve the couple of years she had left. And we were rammed. That's why she's got to get off this ship and get back to San Francisco. The sooner she gives herself up, the easier it'll be on her. She also happened to have taken a nice fancy to our pretty little jailbird. Oh, you fuck! Careful, Van Wyden. Louie. Louie, Louie! In order that this star pigeon may pay her debt to her fetid society, do something romantic. Well, here, save the girl. I couldn't operate my handshake. Well, that makes it harder and more dramatic. Louie, operate. February 19, 1904. We're in ceiling waters now, and I keep a double watch constantly for the Macedonia under Sixth Cannon. Although the men don't know what they're watching for, I could be troublesome. My headaches get worse and worse. Ruth Webster's recovered miraculously. She came on deck today when I was watching Van Wyden trying to sharpen the harpoon. She wanted to thank me, she said. You've been very kind, Captain. I wanted to thank you. Fine. Oh, now, you've been very lucky. Louie, our doctor was just drunk enough not to be able to practice all of his ignorance. Saved your life. Louie did a good job, Captain Larson. Now, when can I get back to San Francisco? Not for six months or so, Miss Webster. Six months? Or seven. But I must get back as soon as the better. I explained it to you. This is a ceiling schooner. There's nothing I can do. However, we want you to feel perfectly at home here. Johnson, we want Miss Webster to feel right at home. Take two men and put some bars on her window. Van Wyden, you told him. No, you talked about it in your delirium. Captain Larson, on second thought, there's no point in my going back to San Francisco. Ruth, you've got to go back. Don't you realize what it means to you? Excuse me, gentlemen. Ruth, spirit, eh? Captain Larson, I taught my heart out to get that girl to give herself up, to save herself. And you've destroyed it all. What makes you keep on feeding that bitter ego of yours unhelpless people who've never had anything but degradation? I had it. I fought back. You fought back? No. You ran away. You hid. You couldn't face the world, so you created a world of your own. A hell on water, a ship where you alone could be masked. Van Wyden, you fear nothing on the ocean because you fear everything on land. Van Wyden, you saw my first may die when I struck him. Yes. Yes what? Captain Larson. What's the matter now, Louie? Captain, as you may know, I've done a remarkable job in saving Miss Webster's life. Proud of it. It's made a different man of me. I haven't had a drink in a week. All right, you can have a quarter whiskey out of my personal locker, Louie. No, I don't want that. But with the little time left to me, I'd like the men to die. I'd like the men to treat me with respect now. Oh. Like I used to be on land. Find, Doctor. I see. Respect it. I'd like you to tell the men not to laugh at me anymore. Yes, I see, Louie. Van Wyden, you once said I had no feeling for a man's dignity. And I'm going to show you something. Larson. Aye, sir. What the men have here? Men. Now listen to this. From now on, Louie, here is not to be laughed at. Now shut up, Cookie. Shut up. Doctor Prescott here is to be given all the courtesy and respect. You him as a doctor. Is that clear? Thank you, Captain. Thank you. You're welcome, Doctor. I'm glad to do it. I'll go down and put on my old frock coat. Ah, yes, by all means. And be careful of that top step, Doctor. You devil. You kicked me. You kicked me down no steps. Ah, you slipped, Doctor. You fell. I don't have to stand for this anymore. Larson, you must be insane. I won't stand for this another day. He's climbing into the rigging. Well, let him. He's an old man. He may fall. Let him, let him. You regret that you ever made a fool of me, Wolf Larson. You men. You know why there's a double watch all the time now? I know. I've sailed with the ghosts long enough to know. Tell him, Wolf Larson. Tell him about your brother, Death Larson. Ah, shut up, Louis. Come down. Tell him about Death Larson and the Macedori. And the cannon he has on board to blow you when your filthy top to Kingdom come when he finds you. Tell him. Come out of that rigging, Louis, before I shoot you down. I'm coming. But there's no price. No price. No man will pay for living. I'm coming down, all right. Louis, don't. A man jumps to his death because of you and all you can say is... Man, why... What's wrong with you? You're gonna take me to my care. Things are the screen directors' playhouse production of The Sea Wolf, starring Edward G. Robinson and presented by R.C.A. Victor. Just a month ago today, R.C.A. Victor sprang a big, beautiful surprise on the American people. A breathtaking lineup of 14 brand-new R.C.A. Victor television models, all at the lowest prices in R.C.A. Victor history. Somewhere among these 14 new masterpieces, you'll find the television set you've been yearning for, the one which exactly suits your family, your furniture, your finances. Let's say you have an average size home and about $280 to spend. You'll probably choose the new console model with a 12-and-a-half inch screen. It's traditionally styled in your choice of rich woods. And of course, like all R.C.A. Victor television sets, it gives you those maximum values in pictures, sound, and dependability, which only the world leader in electronics can achieve. To find the television set which exactly fits both your earning and your yearning capacities, join the parade to your R.C.A. Victor dealers. Back to the screen directors' playhouse production. Starring Edward G. Robinson and his original role of Wolf Larson. That last attack was the worst. The headaches are getting worse, more frequent. There's nothing brewing among the men. They're sullen and silent. That's bad. They'll bear watching. Larson, what's happened? Mutiny. A yellow dog just slucked me and threw me overboard. But I put myself up by a toe line. A swine, a mutinous swine. I'll get them. Hold out your hand, Van Wyden. Why? Whoever the men were will attack me. Their pulses will still be racing. I want to feel your pulse. Hold out your hand. Here. You fool. Trying to fight me. In the belly. And the hand. You fool. Out of work. Now, help me. Help me. Help me. Why? I'm blind. Blind? My head. There's something in my brain growing, getting worse. I'm blind. I'll go away again. I'll stay with me. Don't tell the men. Pity, Van Wyden. Pity. No, I won't let a blind man be slaughtered. Where are you? Your hands. Give me your hands. Here, Larson. Larson, you're breaking my hands. Pity, Van Wyden. Pity. You had your chance, you fool. And you lost. I go. Now, you'll have to stay with me until my sight comes back. Cannon. The Macedonia. My brother is sworn to sink me in over a woman. The fool, the fool. You won't let them murder a blind man. You wouldn't let my brother sink a blind man, would you? No, but take me up on deck. There's a fog. Tell me what it is, and I'll order the crew to take the ghost into the fog. Hurry, we're hit. We're under attack. We have to abandon ship, you and I. No! It's our only chance, Ruth. I won't go back to prison now. You've got to. It's your only chance. I've had number three lifeboat ready for this for a week. Now, hurry. Bearing pain and fog. A fog on the sea. A fog in my eyes. My crew is deserted. I'm sinking. The ghost has got the pieces. My brother has his revenge for the woman I took from him. It was too weak to live sternly. The ghost is down by the head. Water in my cabin. I'm alone. But I have a revolver beside me. I will not die drowning. Who's there? Who is it, I say? I see you. I can shoot. Who are you? He's on the water in an opened up breaker of water, Larson. Very palatable, huh? Salt water. You knew all the time I was planning to escape. Yes, all the time. I can stand it, Ruth's can't. I came back. You're sinking. I need supplies. No. No, you're not going to leave this ship again. I've lived alone, but I won't die alone. Are you afraid? Yeah. I'm a man. You're a wolf. Wolves die meanly. No, no, not wolf Larson. Not meanly, not alone. But in the company of kindred spirits and congenial minds, Van White. You. I'm very sorry for you, Wolf Larson. Pity again, huh? Well, I suppose good Christian people take a lot of comfort in their fetishes, like pity, love, humanity, even to the last. Water's rising in here. We'll drown if we stay here. You mutinate. Mutineers don't share in the last arenas of the sea. They hang. They get shot down. Well? Can't you say something, Van Wyden? Something magnificent and spiritual before you die? I've said it, but not to you, Larson. Captain Larson, you scorned captain! Sir! Who makes you any happier? Sir, now shoot. I can't die alone. You understand? Shoot. I... Shoot! He was not only mad, he was blind. Totally blind. He missed widely. I slipped quietly toward the open door. He was standing waist-high in water, erect. Blind eyes fixed on his dark eternity. The heart-blinds gone from his mouth that was shaping words long forgotten in the brain of Wolf Larson. Deep, all the time, the deep of the voice that I cataracted. All thy waves and thy billows were gone of him. I left him there. But in the end, at the very last, Wolf Larson had his only wish, the only quarter he'd ever asked, from man or God. He was not alone. I've just heard the last act of the sea-wolf. Our star, Edward G. Robinson, and our guest screen director, Michael Curtiz, will be with us in just a moment. Next Friday, one of the screen's most delightful comedienne visits the screen director's playhouse. Our story, for the first time on the air, is this thing called love, and recreating her original role will be Rosalind Russell with screen director Alexander Hall. Now, here again is tonight's star, Edward G. Robinson. Eddie, I can hardly wait to tell our listeners what you like in real life. Well, go ahead and tell them. Well, here is a man who is not only a sensitive lover of great music, but also a world-famous art collector who shares his treasures with all comers. In short, friends, beneath the ferocious sea-wolf dwells but the harmless art hound. Now, what are you trying to do, Jimmy, ruin my reputation? Get me drummed out of the mob? No, Eddie. I'm just trying to make sure everybody knows about your deep interest in art before I ask you a $64 question. What do you think of the appearance, the design of R.C.A. Victor's new 45-RPM system? Well, Jimmy, I'd say it's a great triumph of functional design. That is, if I'm not talking too fancy. That is, the size and the shape of the 45-record changer and records are entirely determined by their function. And that is to make better music. Isn't that right? Absolutely. The R.C.A. Victor engineers found that music was at its finest when recorded and played at 45 revolutions per minute instead of the standard 78. And that's what determines sizes, much smaller than in the old systems. Eddie, how do you like those tiny 7-inch records? Well, they're marvelous space savers, Jimmy. I have a couple of hundred and they fit on about a foot and a half of ordinary bookshelf. I like their rainbow colors, too. Say, what's the engineering reason for the big donut holes in the middle of the records? Well, the engineers found they could get the fastest, easiest, automatic record changing ever if they put all the mechanism inside the big, fat center spindle with no gadgets to adjust. So the records were made to slip easily over the spindle 10 at a time for up to 50 minutes of music. Well, I'd say the 45 is a triumph any way you look at it. Well, that's what everybody's saying, Eddie. Saying with purchases of over 50,000 of the record changers and over 2 million records a month. The 45 is sweeping the country. See and hear it at your R.C.A. Victor dealers soon. Prices start as low as $12.95 for the players and 65 cents for the records. About 25 years ago, ladies and gentlemen, both the English language and motion pictures underwent a drastic change. It began when a young Hungarian director arrived in Hollywood. The English language has never quite recovered from the things he's done to it. As for pictures, his splendid talent has created more than 90 of them, including such memorable screen experiences as Casablanca and Yankee Doodle Dandy. Now I'd like you to meet him, my director in the Seawolf, Michael Curtis. But those were very unkind things you said about my English. Really? I admit that people before taught my speech was abnominable. You mean awful? I meant abnominable. No, I will let you out there. But they are improved. They, what do you mean they? They are used to me. Oh. Well, Mike, you know, those were very unkind things you did to me in the Seawolf, making me as nasty as you did. Valadis was very difficult to directing you in a role like that. You were really so charming, so likeable, and we just had to make a beast out of you. Well, I don't know, I'm a pretty tough guy, you know. From now on, I'm putting directors on a shooting schedule, and I don't mean cameras, understand? Well, you did, Mike. Who turned you into the terror of the scene? You did, Mike. And who is going to give you a good spanking if you don't behave yourself? Oh, but, Mike. Quiet. You see, folks, there is nothing to being a director. All you have to do is talk quietly to people. Coming at once? Yes, Mike. Good night, everyone. Good night. And good night to you, Edward G. Robinson and Michael Curtiz. Remember next Friday, Rosalind Russell in This Thing Called Love, with Green Director Alexander Hall, brought to you by RCA Victor, world leader in radio, first in recorded music, first in television. The Sea Wolf was presented through the courtesy of Warner Brothers, producers of the technicolor adventure drama, Montana, starring Errol Flynn and Alexis Smith. Edward G. Robinson will soon be seen in the London Films production, My Daughter Joy. Michael Curtiz' latest production for Warner Brothers is Young Man with a Horn, starring Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall and Doris Day. In tonight's presentation, Paul Freese played Humphrey Van Wyden. Others in the cast were Lerene Tuttle, Lou Merrill, Wilms Herbert, Herb Lytton, Herbert Butterfield and Frank Barton. The Sea Wolf from the novel by Jack London was adapted for radio by Milton Geiger. That original music was composed and conducted by William Lava. Screen Directors Playhouse is produced by Howard Wiley, with Dramatic Direction by Bill Karn. Portions of the program were transcribed. This is Jimmy Wallington speaking and inviting you to listen again next Friday when RCA Victor presents... Screen Directors Playhouse star Rosalind Russell production, this thing called Love, director Alexander Hall. Next, it's Jimmy D'Radi with Dolomiti on NBC.