Lights out for the devil and Mr. O. It is later than you think. Turn out your lights. Now. We bring you stories of the supernatural and the supernormal, dramatizing the fantasies and the mysteries of the unknown. We tell you this frankly so that if you wish to avoid the excitement and tension of these imaginative plays, we urge you calmly but sincerely to turn off your radio now. This is Mr. O. Arch Over. Once upon a long time ago in New York City on top of the Empire State Building, I met a pair of very young and very much in love honeymooners. I remember those two when I wrote this play you are about to hear. It's not a horror story and yet there is terror in it and wonder. I give you now a story about one of the strangest days since our planet began to circle the sun. In a sanctum mystery. Hello, this is your host welcoming you through the squeaking door. Not for a half hour of terror but to tell you about Radio Nostalgia Magazine. Radio Nostalgia Magazine is a must for old time radio fans. It's a magazine with many photos and stories of old time radio and its stars. Our current issue features a 16 page article on the shadow. All subscribers will get a free Captain Midnight decoder badge, a Captain Midnight flight patrol membership, and a flight commander certificate from the Secret Squadron. To get your copy send $1.50 in check or money order to Radio Nostalgia Box 8007R, Union City, New Jersey 07087. That's Radio Nostalgia Box 8007R, Union City, New Jersey, zip 07087. Send now and get a free 8x10 photo of the Lone Ranger in Tonto boys and girls. And now, if you haven't already done so, turn off your lights now and listen to Where Are You? Paper read all about it, war in Europe, war in Europe, paper read all about it, war in Europe, war in Europe. Express to the observation roof going up. In here, yes. Yes. Please, front please. Eve. Hmm? Forget all about what's happening outside, newspapers and things. Don't let it spoil this. Nothing can spoil being with you, Michael. Sweet. Gee, you can't hardly feel the elevator moving. It is moving, Michael. Sure, look at the lights. 25th floor already. Doesn't seem possible. Oh, my ears. Yeah, mine too. Because we're going so fast? No, it's something about air pressure. You know, like getting on top of a mountain. Gee, look at those lights. We're at the 50th floor. At least they say so. It's so scary and wonderful. Just think, 102 floors up in the air. Not on this elevator, mister. Huh? You'll have to change at the 80th, then at the 86th again. Oh, oh, thanks. Look, 70th floor already. Of course, this is one of the longest elevator shafts in the world. Yeah, I should think it is. I heard there's an extra paper out that the war is going to... Please, if you don't mind, we don't want to talk about those things. Oh, yeah, I don't blame you. Well, far as we go. Where do we... Next elevator, right over there, sir. Thanks. Better hold on to my arm, Eve. Yes. Why does everyone have to talk about the war all the time, Michael? It's just the way it is, I guess. Coming up. Come ahead, Eve. Watch your step, please. I wonder how much you can see up there. All New York, the guidebook says. Far as we go. You mean this is where we... 86th floor, mister. Take the elevator right over there for the observation room. Oh, thanks. Come on, Eve. But Michael, we knew sooner got in than we got out. Six floors higher. At least he says so. I guess this is the place where we get there. Going up. Come on, Eve. We'll never get closer to heaven. Observation room, next stop. 102nd floor. I used to think that I was getting up high when I climbed the apple tree. Observation room, 102nd floor. Gosh, Express is right. All right, Eve, this is it. Will the wind blow? Will it be all... Oh, Michael, it's all glassed in. Yeah. Oh, Michael, how wonderful. Gosh. Michael, come over here. Huh? Look, the ocean out there. I can see the Statue of Liberty. Oh, it's wonderful. And you didn't want to come up here. It's like the world right under it. Not scared a bit, are you? Why should I be? It's just wonderful. Oh, look over here. Hey, will you quit running around here like a doodle bug? What's the... There's some bridges over the river. Which one is that? Oh, I don't know. Brooklyn or something. Oh, so many buildings. I had no idea New York was so... So spread out. So many buildings. So wonderful. Yeah, from up here. What? What did you say, Michael? I said it's all wonderful from up here. But get down there and... Well, I bet it's like one of those Hollywood, you know, glamour stars when she gets up in the morning. Oh, Michael, what do you know about things like that? Well, I know you're super colossal or something when you wake up. Oh. You are. Your eyelashes sort of flutter and then you stretch out just like a little pup dog. Like a pup dog? Michael, is that romantic? Oh, I don't know the words. I just know that I'm gladder every minute that you married me. You married me? Oh, don't argue with your husband. Husband? Eve, lips are so soft. You as hot. Glad no one else is up here. All right, Michael, $2.20 to make love to me or to see the sight. I married a beautiful cash register. Mr. Smith, will you let go of me? You're going to see me for 99 years, and maybe this is the last time we'll ever be able to get away from the farm and see New York this way. Michael. Huh? Look over there. Hey, how do you like that? Clouds. Where did they come from? The usual place clouds come from, I suppose. But so quickly. We're up plenty high. Look at them. They're coming right at us. It's a strong wind, I guess. Oh, Michael, this is so exciting. Up in the clouds. Made to order for you and me. Uh-uh, rain. There goes the rest of our day. Sure a good thing they got this place glassed in. Eve, tell me, lightning. Oh, no. You've been in thunderstorms before. Michael. Eve, what is it? The clouds, they're fighting. Huh? Look at them, fighting each other. Well, is that any reason to be afraid? Gosh, thunder clouds always sort of boil around. Like armies fighting. Eve, what kind of talk is that? Armies fighting. Why do you keep saying that? I can't help it. I keep thinking. Well, don't think. Remember, we said our honeymoon. We wouldn't think about anything but us. But this is us. How can I be happy when all over the world... All right, I will talk about it. I'll talk about it once and for all. And then you and I won't have to talk about it anymore. Gosh, I don't know anything about... about those things the goose papers are always talking about. Maybe I'm not so smart as the people who live in this town and all the other big towns when it comes to dodging taxi cabs and throwing wisecracks. But I know this. I don't want to own everything I can get my hands on. And I know that it isn't right for some people to have too much and some people have too little. And I know that when I go to fight, I will fight. And it'll be for what I know is right, for the kind of world where all the little people have a chance, no matter what they look like or what their name is or what their blood is. Because I know that no matter what any little dictator says, people all over the world are just like you and me. All they want and all I want is happy work and someone they care about to work for and a little time left over which just to enjoy being alive. I love you, Michael. Let's go down. No, just a minute more. Storm's breaking. Yeah, I guess it is. First time in my life I ever talk like that. You're very good, Michael. I'm not bright, but good. Michael, look. Look at what? You just can't see anything down there. Yeah, air's full of mist, that's why. See things and yet you don't see them. Let's go, huh? All right. Hold on to my arm. If it's still raining when we get down, we'll take a taxi back to the hotel. All right. I guess this is the button I press to get the elevator up here. I don't know how to bring them up. Gosh, thunderstorms and everything. It's been some experience, hasn't it? Yes. I sure jumped out of my skin when you screamed. I mean, when you saw those thunder clouds. I didn't scream, Michael. Oh, you certainly did, kind of. I sure don't know much about women, I guess. I mean, you were afraid of the clouds, and then you weren't afraid of the thunder and lightning. Clouds were horrible. Hey, what's the matter with that elevator? It'll ring again. Well, that's all I've been doing. Something must be wrong with it, the button. Yeah, no answer. That's plain enough. Don't be so impatient. We certainly can't walk down. They'll come up for us. Gosh, my thumb's getting sore punching this thing. Something sure is out of order. Maybe we had better walk down. 102 floors? No, I mean just to the next landing where we can get the next elevator. See, you stare away. Oh, okay. I guess there's nothing else to do about it. Come on. Don't walk so fast, dear. Oh, what a life. It isn't so bad walking downstairs. You're swell. Here, take my arm. Down we go, Mrs. Smith. You know, elevators are all right, but me, I'll take the good old-fashioned horse. Crazy. Hey. Hey, isn't there anyone here? Hey, we want to get downstairs. Hey! It's no use, dear. Well, there's got to be somebody on this floor. Don't get so excited, Michael. Oh, gosh, there's 80 floors between us and the street. We can't walk all that way. We'll have to. Telephone. Yeah, telephone, that's it. I'll call the operator and tell her what's happened. Come on. Michael, wait for me. Michael, you can't go in there. Come on. It's a private office. Oh, sure, but they won't mind if I... Say, can you beat them? No one here. Going off with the elevator man, I'll bet you. Well, at least they left the telephone. Hope I can dial this thing right. Here it says, Operator. Michael, they won't like it at all if they come back in here and find we've walked right in without a... Gosh. What's the matter? The telephone. Here, listen. Sounds...sorta dead. Yeah, I'll say. Here, give it to me. I've got to get somebody. Hey, hey, listen, Operator. How about answering? Operator, Operator. No use, Michael. Yeah. Oh, is this a mess? Have to walk down, I guess. Where is everyone in this building? Gosh, you'd think... Michael, maybe there's been a fire. Fire? Yeah, maybe... Michael, quick, let's get to the stairway and get out of here. Quick, Michael. How far have we gone? Five or six floors, I guess. Hold tight to my arm. We have to walk. We have to walk. The whole building can't be empty, Michael. I tried every office on that floor, I tell you. There was no one. No one. Oh, gosh, this is the screwiest thing I've ever seen. It can't be a fire, Michael. No. There's no smoke or anything. But where is everyone? Michael, where? I don't know. I don't know, Honest. I don't know. I don't know. But, Michael... Honey, I'm as tired trying to figure it out as I am walking down the whole blaster of 102 floors. Floor after floor, offices all fixed up as if people were working in them and no one there. I give up, I tell you. Michael, the war. I mean the war news. Everybody ran out into the street. Does that make sense? A whole skyscraper emptied out just to grab newspapers. Michael. About a war that's all the way over the ocean. That makes about as little sense as everything else. Well, this is it. Are we? So help me the main floor. All out. Oh, gosh, my legs. Michael, don't. Don't sit down. Hurry. Hurry where? Out of here in the street. Don't you want to know what's happened? Well, yeah, sure. That door says to the street. Let's go. Yeah, wait for me, Michael. Sure glad to get out of this place. Come on, out we go. Yes. Michael. Gosh. Oh, Michael. It's all right, dear. It's all right. Michael, what's happened? Not a person in the streets. There were so many. Yeah. Michael. Michael, listen. I don't hear anything. Listen. The wind. Yes, that's it. That's it. Only the wind. Michael, don't you remember? Ever since we got to New York all day yesterday, all night, all morning. The noise, Michael. Don't you remember the noise? Yes, sir. And now nothing but the wind. What's happened? Why is it so quiet now? Where are the people? Michael, tell me. We leave our The Devil and Mr. O's story, Where Are You? to return after a message from your station. See? See the leaf? Right here in my hand. Oh, yes. Isn't that a new leaf? Yes, it is a new leaf. Here. I'm going to turn over a new leaf. Get it? Leaf? New? What does that mean, to turn over a new leaf? Well, in serious, it means that you're going to have a little change. From what to what? From bad to good. Oh, really? Yeah. Well, suppose somebody was crying. They could switch from tears to a smile. Suppose they were lonely. They could go from loneliness to having somebody to play with. Well, suppose somebody wasn't loved. Could they turn over a new leaf? They could go from not loving somebody to loving somebody. How do they do that? All they have to do is try to love somebody. Just try? Yeah. It's easy to love people when you try. Love makes all things new again. Hey, what was that? Another sound of love from the Franciscans. And now back to our The Devil and Mr. O's story of Where Are You. The boy and the girl walk along the deserted city streets. There are only the two of them. The millions who have filled the Megopolis are strangely gone. Do you want to rest? No. Just keep walking. All right. If we'd only meet one. Michael, if we'd only meet one person. Eve, stop it. Of course we'll meet someone. We've got to. There's millions of people in this town. Millions, I tell you. Not a living thing. Horse, dog, dog. There's an explanation, I tell you. There's an explanation for everything. Everyone's gone somewhere. That's all gone somewhere. Where have they gone, Michael? Careful automobile. Standing still. Like all the rest. Crazy people leave their cars standing right in the middle of the street. But they'll come back. They've got to. Millions of people, I tell you. People, where are you? People. Hey, somebody come out, blast you. Come out. People. No. People, can't you hear me? Michael, stop. You're frightening me. Empty streets. Stop yelling at me, Michael. Michael, stop. Stop. Oh, Eve. Hold me. What's happened to us? What? No. No, I've got to stop asking questions. I've got to keep going. I've got to find someone. They'll tell us. They'll... Eve. What? Tremble. What is it, Eve? Michael, I just thought... Thought what? All these empty streets. Michael, listen to me. What if there is no one else? Huh? What if you and I are the only ones left? Michael. Yes? I... I can't walk another step. All right, we'll rest. Where? Anywhere. It doesn't matter much, does it? Old New York's hours. You ought to know that by now. No. No, don't. Look, you know where we are? No. Broadway. Times Square. Well, I give you Times Square. It's all yours. Wedding present. Michael, I'm so tired. Yeah, yours. Shops and big signs and all the taxi cabs and buses and cars standing around. Yours, Eve. Yours to have and to lose or burn up. Michael, please. I'm sorry, honey. Guess I'm a little goofy. Let's keep going, huh? Tired? Yeah. It's going to get dark soon. Yeah. Will there be light? Nope. How do you know? I tried the light switches all along the way. I won't be afraid in the dark. Well, I guess that's one advantage we've got coming from the country. There'll be people there, won't there? I don't think so. Why do you say that? Well, when we went to that store before, there were radio sets, battery ones. I tried them. We weren't looking. There was nothing on the air. What does that mean? It means what you said before. Maybe it's true. We're the only...the only... Yeah. Somehow I'm not as frightened as I was. Me neither. My head...I'm just all mixed up, that's all. They left the doors open and the automobiles right in the middle of the street. And everything's just as if they stopped right in the middle of what they were doing. But why? Why? That word's got me dizzy, chasing around in my head. Michael. Millions of people. Where have they disappeared to? If we only had some idea, any idea. Michael. What's the matter? Why are you... That newspaper. Right at your feet. Huh? Pick it up. The headline. War, fury, rages. Armies marching Europe. Well? The headline. Well, what of it? The same one as this morning. Couldn't that be the answer? Answer to what? What are you talking about? Why they disappeared? Eve, get hold of yourself. What's a war thousands of miles away got to do with this? Maybe it's the same over there. People gone? Yes. Let's keep going. No, the curb. Let's sit here. All right. Now you gotta tell me. What you started to say? Don't...don't laugh at me when I say it, Michael. Just tell me. Maybe God got tired of it. What? He's been so patient, waiting all these years for people to learn how to live on the earth. So today, well, he just got tired and took everybody away. Eve. Michael, don't look at me like that. Is what I said any more crazy than what's happened? Look, this street should be like daylight with electric signs. There should be so many people around us and automobiles coming and going and street cars and a whole city living. But there's nothing. Michael, who else but God could have taken them away? Why can't it be true? He got so tired of the horrible mess they were making of things that he... he took them away. Yes, that's it. No, stop it. No, it's crazy talk. I won't listen. Because we don't understand. It's impossible, I tell you. Why is it impossible? Michael, I don't know very much, but I know this. I've been thinking about it all the time we've been walking. Call the way people got here on earth any name you want. But no matter how you say it, when you really think about it, it's all a miracle. Things joining in the empty air and growing and burning and cooling. The animals growing out of things that couldn't move. The animals changing for millions of years until there were men. I tell you, it's all crazy and impossible, and yet someone made it happen. So why not this? If he made men, why couldn't he get tired of the way they were doing things and destroy them? I can't believe it's you talking. Michael, I think I'm saying the truth. Someone made mankind, and that someone just destroyed them. Then what are we doing here? We're flesh and blood like the rest. Maybe he just forgot us. Or maybe... What? It doesn't matter. Tell me. Maybe you and I... Well? Maybe he wanted just a couple of people to start over with. You say crazy things, and then you say crazy ones. What if it's true, Michael? Think, what if it's true? The things you said up on the roof during the storm, those good things. Maybe he heard them and liked them. Getting so dark. Maybe he heard them and liked them. I'm awfully tired. Let's find a place to sleep. All right. I'll help you up. Where will we go? Any place. We can go any place now. Yes. Let's hurry. It'll be terrible on the streets when it's very dark. Yes. No, wait, Michael. Why should we hurry and be afraid? Who can harm us now? You're right. All the harm is out of the city now. Michael, you don't quite believe all the things I said before. But tomorrow when the sun is shining again, and we really know that this happened and isn't kind of a dream, you'll believe then, won't you, Michael? Maybe. You're... You're thinking something. Tell me what. Well, if what you think did happen, maybe he left a few more people like us at different places on the Earth. I mean, plain ordinary people to join together and make a new world. We'll have to help run things. Michael, yes. But Eve, we don't know anything about running a world, you and I. We're just you and me. How can we do better than they did, the millions of them? Maybe... Maybe by remembering something they sort of forgot. What? It's just to do unto others as they should do unto you. This is our Jobler. Our play has ended, and may it always continue to be just that, a play. The actors, by the way, were the very gifted Mercedes McCambridge and Byron Cain. Next time we meet, a favorite story of mine, and perhaps some of you will remember it from the past. I'll tell you more about it after a message from your station. The world has known many kinds of love, but a deep unselfish love is both noble and beautiful. This is Claire Bloom speaking for the March of Dimes. All of us know life must sometimes hold suffering and pain, but the one who loves endures. In this country, a quarter of a million babies are born each year with birth defects. That means 700 children a day, and how much love and understanding they all need. There are far too many forms of crippling. That's why the March of Dimes works to prevent birth defects. This work is supported by the compassionate concern of people like you. You see, the March of Dimes fights birth defects through scientific research, public education, and medical service programs. And contributions, an expression of your much-needed interest and support, are so very important. Remember, birth defects are forever unless you help. Please give to the March of Dimes. This is Mr. Owegain. Ugliness, they tell us that's all a state of mind. What is beautiful in Hollywood terms, for example, is grotesque in the eyes of a New Guinea tribesman. What is lovely in the eyes of an Australian bushman would cost snickers on an Atlantic City boardwalk. Ugliness, beauty, I invite you to listen next time to The Freak. It is later than you think.
