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. R. Jobler. Have you ever stopped to consider that the plot of the husband, the wife, and the lover has been with us longer than most of us care to think? That's what our story is about tonight. But we begin after a short pause. NAACP and double ACP. Say it either way, the initials still stand for the nation's strongest, oldest, most vital, and most respected civil rights organization. Remember it was the NAACP which persuaded President Truman to desegregate the armed forces. NAACP persistence secured the Supreme Court decision ending segregation in public schools. NAACP engineered the historic civil rights bills of the 60s, and today, among other things, it is actually feeding thousands of indigent black folk across the nation. If we are ever to achieve a single society, the massive strength of this organization must be maintained and enlarged. Won't you join the half million black and white Americans fighting for justice and equal opportunity? NAACP and double ACP. Every day it works for you. Won't you work for it? Join your local branch today. And now, if you haven't already done so, turn off your lights now and listen to the shrinking people. Keep moving along, keep moving along, ladies and gentlemen, keep moving, there ain't no light from here, keep moving. Hey, officer, what's going on in the hall? What's the blooming attraction? Read the signs, my man, read the signs. Oh, the great Peter Stransky, world famous explorer, appearing in person in lecture on Ed hunters of the Amazon. Go on, Brownie. Now move along, fellow, move along. Oh, no, officer, will you tell a bloke what that Ed hunter is referring to? Who's hunter named? Now look here, you're obstructing traffic, it's lecturer in the man, it's lecturer in these Eden tribes that hunt their neighbor's Eds. Now move along, man, move along, or I'll take you in. Ladies and gentlemen, now you know the story of these strange motion pictures I've shown you this evening. For the first time in history, motion pictures taken of the lower Brazilian region. Someday soon I hope to return to Brazil and bring back more cinematic records of the customs of these almost legendary savages, including actual specimens of heads and bodies taken and preserved in their bloodthirsty wars. When that day comes, I hope you will be as kind to me as you have been this evening. And so, good night until we meet again. Excellent lecture, Stransky, excellent. Yes, it went very well indeed. Complete sellout. That headhunting theme meant excellent publicity in all the papers, you know. Yes, yes, of course. Now if you'll pardon me, my wife. Oh, but my dear Stransky, autographs. They pay to listen to my lecturing and see my motion pictures, not to get my autograph. I'm sorry, my wife, she will be waiting and I... Oh, come, come, don't worry about her. She'll be well taken care of. Eh? What are you talking about? I just passed her backstage and she had a handsome young gentleman having quite a tater-tape, don't you know? You will pardon me. Oh, John. Oh, come now, Ellen, you must do it. Oh, but John, that's ridiculous. You've never heard of such a silly thing. I did, and that's why I'm telling it to you. Well, I won't listen to another word. I really won't. Oh, yes, you will. No, I won't. If I might be so bold as to interrupt. Oh, Peter, it's you. I'm sorry to interrupt your most interesting conversation, my dear wife, but we must go. But Peter, we... Come, I said. The automobile is waiting. But I... Very well, Peter. Good night, John. Good night, Ellen. Come. Get into the car, Ellen. Why don't you say something, Peter? Yes. Yes, I will say something. This! Well, why don't you speak? Why don't you cry? I... I wouldn't give you the satisfaction. So, you save your tears for him, too. Say something. I'm leaving you, Peter. Leaving me? What are you talking about? I spoke clearly enough. I'm leaving you. Don't be a fool. I'm trying not to be. That's why I'm leaving you. I should have done it a long time ago. You'll go to him. No, I'm going to divorce you first, Peter. Divorce? I won't have any difficulty about that, I'm sure. No, never a divorce for me, never. You have no choice. Please stop the car. Yes. Goodbye. Ellen. I'm sorry for you, Peter. No. I'm sorry for you. And him. Well, come in, Ellen. Come in. And you, too, young man. What do you want of us, Peter? It was very kind of you two to come here and join me tonight. You said it was important, Stransky, what his life. Perhaps the fault was largely mine. I was not a very good husband. You're acting very decently about all this, Mr. Stransky. All I can say is I love Ellen very much. And you love him, Ellen? Yes, Peter. If we could arrange matters quickly, I mean the divorce and all that sort of thing. Of course. I just said we are together like civilized human beings. And now if you'll excuse me, I will close the door. The servant, you know. He's acting surprisingly well about it all, Ellen. I'm not so sure, John. Now what I have to say, I say in complete privacy. Peter, just why did you want John and me here? I want you to waive our rights. Just as you wish. Excellent. So here is the legal form as drawn up by my solicitor. I assure you, it's quite in order. You will sign first, young man. Me? Yes. As a witness, you understand? Very well. My pen. No, no, no. Use this one, please. Here. Oh, I'm sorry. John, what's the matter? Nothing. Just a scratch, the pen point. I am so clumsy. John, it's nothing really. See, the pen point hardly broke the skin. Yes, but it did break the skin. Oh yes, John. You see a drop of blood. It's nothing at all. Just a scratch. Unimportant. Why did you laugh like that, Peter? What's wrong? You feel something, John? What? A constriction between the eyes perhaps? Peter. Or maybe a strange pounding of the heart? Peter. Peter, what have you done? Or perhaps, John, your vision blows. You hear strange sounds in your ears. A great lover? Peter, answer me. What have you done? John, are you all right? Tell me, are you all right? I don't know. My head is so strange. Tell me, have you done something to him? Have you? John, look at me, darling. Speak to me. Tell me what's the matter. Yes. John. Yes, speak, John. Eleanor. John. Peter, help me. He's fallen. Peter, help me. Help me. Help you? John, look at him. Look at him. He's ill and dying. Doctor, get a doctor. Not a doctor, my little wife. Doctors cannot restore even great lovers after the poison of barracotta has entered the veins. Poison? That pen? That scratch? Ellen, you must... So, the thought of your lover's death draws the blood from your head and you faint, eh, my little wife? When you awaken, you will wish that you died with him. Ah, you are awake again. You are bound in its hair. This most discourteous of me I know, but then, as you may remember, I always was a barbarian. John. John. You will keep your voice down. John, you've got to tell me, worthy, why am I down here? John's not dead. He can't be dead. There on that table, under the sheet. Not John. Yes, John. John, you've killed him. Let me loose. Let me go to him. Stop, then. Stop making that noise, you mad woman. Stop it. Stop it, I say. All right, I'll stop you then. I'll stop you. All right. There, my little wife, scream, yell, rave all you want. This gag over your mouth serve its purpose well. Go on. Go on, you amuse me. So, now you have discovered it is useless to talk to the gag, eh, Ellen? It's such a waste of effort, is it not? So now that you are silent, I can go on with my work. Most important work. Yes, you were right about what was on this table here. See, I throw off the sheet. And he was such a handsome man. Well, I must get to work. Why, you no longer try to speak, my little Ellen. Does the sight of these beautiful surgical instruments frighten you? They need not. They're not for you. They are for John. Yes, yes, he is dead. Dead. The poison too quickly. But you think I would let him rest in death? Oh, no. I loved you, Ellen. And as I loved you, I hate you. Watch closely. What? I'm sorry, I cannot understand you. No, you ask me what I'm going to do. The knives, sharp knives, you see them? No, they are not to dismember your precious John. Flesh buried, decays and is gone. I want your dear John with me for a long time. Again you ask the question. I'm trying so hard to explain. He's dead and he will be dead. But in his death he will serve a purpose. You remember I told you my savage Brazilian friends, the Yevaros, have a quaint custom of shrinking and preserving the bodies of their enemies. Well, I studied their methods most carefully. John Douglas was my enemy. Here he lies. And I will do with him as the Yevaros do with their enemies. So, now you understand. When I'm through with him, your lover will be a little leathery skinned man, a door-like in size, a trophy for my trophy room. Who will suspect that in that little leathery door-like figure is the body of an Englishman? And so he will amuse me in his death. Yes, you will sit there my little wife. You will sit in that chair for the many days it will take me to prepare the carcass. You will sit and watch me day after day as with smoke and with heat I make the strong body of your lover smaller and smaller. You will sit there. We leave our The Devil and Mr. O's story of the shrinking people for a short message. 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Shipments are now on the way. Thank you for your patience. And now back to our The Devil and Mr. O's story. The Devil and Mr. O's Story The fire is warm, hell. Warm, so very warm. The air, filled with smoke. Dry, swirling smoke. See how it coils around him. At first, how often you cried out when I talked like this, but now you're silent. Weeks. How many weeks has it been? Four, five, six. Used to take my savage friends ten weeks to dry and cure the bodies of their enemies. Ten weeks. And I, I have done it in five. Look at him. Six foot strong and broad he was, but now a doll in size, a small brown doll. What weary days they've been filling the body full of sand and slowly turning, turning in the smoke and the heat. Not too quickly, not too slowly, not too close to the flames. And now, the man that was John Douglas, a doll, a brown doll of death. The flames are noisy. Noisy as you are silent, little Ellen. You are... Oh, I hadn't noticed. Your eyes are closed. Wake up. Wake up! Wake up, I say. You've got to look at him. Your eyes have got to see him. You've got to see him. You're speaking. I cannot understand you. The gag. Yes, yes, I will take it off. Sitting there all these weeks, you haven't got the strength. There, there, that does it. Your lips are free. Well, look at him, Ellen. Look at him and tell me what you think of John Douglas now. The smoke, smoke twisting and twisting round him. Smoke is taking him. Where has he gone? Ellen! Ellen! The smoke, the smoke. I'll go to him and he'll smoke. He's waiting for me. Ellen, stop. Stop you here. Understand. You must understand. The smoke, smoke, smoke. What are you raving about? Yes, smoke, the odd colors around him. He's waiting. No, no, stop talking like that. Stop talking like that, I say. The knife. Where is the knife? I'll stop you now. Ellen, I... All right. Dead. Up on the table with you. I must prepare you, Ellen, for the smoke and the fire. Took me five weeks with him and now five more weeks with you. And then you will be as he is. Brown with the smoke of the curing fire. A little doll in size. The Cajuns, the Borneo and the Celebes are not the only savage tribes which indulged in this most curious pastime of collecting human heads as trophies. In my travels in far off places, I have come across at least twenty other races who participate in these strange customs. Let's get out of here, Mamie, where the man's as dry as dust. Oh, but who cares about dead men and men in the likes of that? Let's get out of here and go to a cinema. Quiet. All right, all right. And they went raiding and killing their enemies, generally in nocturnal surprises. These savages severed the heads of the dead and returned with them to their villages. Members of the tribe believe their rank in the next world depends upon the number of heads secured. But unquestionably, the most curious custom is found among the Yavaros of South America, who not only sever the heads of their enemies, but also are known to shrink the bodies of the dead until they are small, almost doll-like in size. These bodies are kept in the large huts and treasured highly. And now, ladies and gentlemen, I have a surprise for you. In my recent trip to South America and my visit to the Yavaros, at great personal risk, I was able to procure two of the macabre specimens. Yes, yes, I have here in this trunk the shrunken bodies of two full-sized human beings. That is, at one time they were full-sized, but now, now they are the size of large dolls. A man and a woman, ladies and gentlemen, perfectly preserved, the only specimens of their kind in existence outside of the sultry jungles of South America. Never before have they been seen or displayed upon the lecture platform, but tonight I am going to show them to you. And now you make your public debut, my two beauties, Ellen and John, the new sensation of the lecture stage. Ladies and gentlemen, if you please, if you please, presenting two perfect specimens, the only ones of their kind, of the secret process which enables the savages of the jungles of South America to reduce their enemies to doll-like size. Here we have a living man, about six foot in size during his lifetime, now reduced to midget size. And likewise, here a woman wants a living, breathing individual like you and you and you. Now this horrible trophy of the Cure's are. You see, Ellen and John, they like you. You are a success. A huge success. You are talking. You. No. No, you cannot talk. Dad, you cannot talk. You cannot talk. You are dead. You are dead. Stop talking. Stop. Stop. Sure, Captain, it's a strange passage we got aboard this time, I must say. You mean Stransky. Strange he is, mate. But what's he running away from, son? Sure, mate, that ain't a proper question to be asking of a man when he lays as many pound notes on the table as that man did for this passage. Get me out of England tonight, he said. And get him out of England I did. Now could he be one of them embezzlers? Oh, I hear that he might. The trunk he was carrying, he wouldn't let any of the men lay a hand on it. He brought it down to the cabin himself. I'd like to get a look in it. So would I. But he stays in that cabin of his all the time. He's down there now. And I'll bet he's looking in that trunk this very day. The cabin door is locked. No one can come in when the door is locked. It's going to stay locked until we get there. South America, they won't get me there. No one will get me there. Why did I run away? What's the matter with me? No one heard them but I. No one in that audience but I. They're in that trunk there. The two of them. Why don't I find out now if no one heard them but I? Why don't I? For sure. Yes, I must. No, they couldn't have talked, not they. The two of you lying there. You didn't talk, did you? No. No, of course you didn't. You're dead. You're more than dead. Hollow flesh shrunk by the smoke of heat until you're smoky little dolls. Alan and John, I'm free of you forever. Forever. You. Alan. The thing that was Alan. Why don't you say something? You murdered my daughter. Again? I heard you again, the two of you. I heard you. No. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it, you little things. You can't speak. You're dead, burned in the flames. Stop it. All right, I'll stop you. I'll stop you. Into the sea. I'll throw you into the sea. Come, you and you. I've got you in my hands. I'll throw you into the sea. First you, Alan. Into the water. There. And now you, John. Into the sea. The sea will stop that tongue of yours. There. Now I'm through with you. Through with you, the water will stop your mouths. It stopped it. I'm free of you forever. The two of you forever. Huh? What's the matter? What's the matter? The matter? Of what do you mean, Captain? Nothing is the matter. I thought I saw you throw something in the water. In fact, I'm sure of it. Oh, just some old things. Yes, that's it. Some old things I didn't want. Oh, I see. Well, as long as everything's all right. Yes, yes, yes. Everything's all right. No. No. It is a weird night, isn't it? Weird? Why do you say that, man? The air is so dark. No moon, not a star in the sky. It's like we were sailing to the black of a tomb without even candlelight to lead us. You know, if I was a superstition... What in the devil's name is that? What? What are you talking about? There. The starboard, see? Two lights. Take it what lights are those. They're coming closer. Starship lights? No, that can't be. Why, I've sailed these waters for 15 years. It's there. It's there. What? The two of them, their faces, see them gleaming faces. Ellen, John, get back. Back to the water. I threw you in. Back. Back. Back. Bensky, what's come over you? Stop leaning over the rain. You'll fall in. You'll fall in, man. Oh! Man overboard! Man overboard! Man overboard! Help! I fell in! Help me! I'm here! I'm here! Save me! Save me! They're coming for you! They're coming for you! They're coming for you! They're coming for you! Yes, yes, I'll stay afloat. They'll save me. I won't die. I won't. They'll save me. No, Peter. Take his other arm, Evan. I have his legs. No. Let go of me. Let go. Come, Stransky. Do I not? No. Stop. Ellen, John, the two of you, stop. You're pulling me under. Drawing me. Drawing me. Well, I told you this would be a different lover, wife, husband situation. And let me just reassure you, if you see a doll that looks like someone else, maybe it is one of the Shrinking People. Hello, this is Angela Lansbury. Won't you jump on the bandwagon with me? This bandwagon is rolling towards a happier tomorrow. During the past year, more concerned people than ever before shared the work of Save the Children Federation. They made it possible for thousands of underprivileged children to receive help. These children did not receive arms. They and their families and communities were helped to help themselves and were given hope and a new outlook through community development, sponsorship, scholarship, and other impetus programs. You too can start a child, his family, and his community on the road to productive independence. Federation programs are expanding on American Indian reservations, in Appalachia, and in many developing countries abroad. Add your name to the growing list of supporters. Contribute to Save the Children, Box 120, Grand Central Station, New York, New York, 10017. That's Save the Children, Box 120, Grand Central Station, New York, New York, 10017. It is later than you think.
