Who's that little cheddar box, the one with pretty auburn locks? Whom do you see? It's little orphan Annie. She and Sandy make a pair. They never seem to have a care. You little sheep, this little orphan Annie. Bright eyes, cheeks of rosy glow, there's a store of healthiness handy. Mite size always on the go, if you want to know. Barks says Sandy, always wears a sunny smile. Now wouldn't it be worth the while, if you could be like little orphan Annie? Well it's 5.45 now and we're all set for another big adventure with Orphan Annie and Simmons Corners. But before we begin Annie's adventure tonight, I want to ask you a question. Are you always getting left out of games and sports because you're kind of small and not very strong for your age? Or do you always get tired out so quickly that you can't keep up with the others and nobody ever wants to play with you? Well then, just remember that Ovaltine has helped thousands of boys and girls like you. So why not start right in drinking a big glass full of Ovaltine with all your meals every day? Now here's why that may help so much. You see, with every single glass full of Ovaltine you drink, you'll be getting lots of important minerals and vitamins and things to help build you up and make you stronger and huskier every day. Plus more, Ovaltine's so easy to digest that it helps build up extra pep and energy for you. You bet, the kind of pep that puts you right up on your toes, able to run faster and play harder so that everybody will want you in all their games and nobody will say you're too small anymore. You just start in drinking good tasting Ovaltine and stick to it. Yes sir, drink it regularly every day and just see what a big difference it may make. But now, everybody listen close. Tonight's Thursday night, and that means club night for all you boys and girls who joined off in Annie's Secret Society last winter. And right during tonight's adventure, we're going to broadcast an important secret message in Annie's 1936 Mystery Radio Code. So all you members, get your super decoder pin ready and have your pencil and paper handy to take the secret message down and figure it out. Because remember, it's going to come right during the adventure. And now, getting back to Annie. Yesterday, while Annie and Joe were over at the old Gregory barn, the watchdog was shot in the leg by some unknown man. Annie caught a glimpse of the man and she thinks it was Nicholson the spy. But here she is sitting alone on the silent back porch after school now, peeling potatoes for supper. And listen, Sandy's talking to her. Now Sandy, leaping lizard, what's the idea of sitting there begging? You know you don't like raw potatoes. Well, all right then. Since you're so stubborn about it, here, try a piece. I told you so, you just spit it out. Now what was the idea of begging so for something you didn't like? I guess you just thought there was no harm in asking. Anyhow, Sandy, I sure am glad you can sit up there and beg today. Think of your friend, poor blood, shot through the leg and not able to sit up. I'm awful glad it wasn't you, Sandy, that got shot. Gee, I'd feel terrible if anything like that happened to you. Yes I would, but you don't need to look so pleased about it. And sitting here talking to you isn't getting any potatoes peeled. Now suppose you let me alone for a minute and that's Joe's whistle. Now, suffering sunfish, where do I put mine? Here it is in the pocket of my dress. Hello, Annie. Howdy, Joe. Boy, these old whistles sure do the trick, don't they? I guess there's nothing much better to signal with. I sure am glad Mo Brown gave them to us down in the Mississippi, because there's no mistake in things. You know my whistle and I know yours. Yeah. Sit down on the steps there, Joe. I'm peeling these potatoes to help Mrs. Silo get suppers. Buds, eh? Boy, I just got through helping my mother. And I thought I'd come over here for a few minutes and show you what I got, Annie. What is it? Shucks, it's a book. Oh, I can see it's a book. What kind of a book? It's one I got at the library, Annie, and it's all about aviation. Shucks, I got so interested in what Mr. Bond's been telling us about flying in the Wright Brothers, and I just had to find more about it. Good for you, Joe. What's in the book? Oh, gosh, lots of things. There's even a paper written by the Wright Brothers themselves. Yes, sir, by Mr. Wilbur and Orville Wright, and it tells all about the story of their invention of the airplane. Jumping grasshoppers. Tell me about it, Joe. You go on peeling those potatoes, Annie. I'll tell you some and read you some while you're doing it. Let's see now. Mr. Bond got as far as... The first flight, Joe, that lasted 12 seconds. Yeah, that was made by Orville Wright back in 1903. Well, it says here that on the same day, December 17th, they made three other flights, Wilbur and Orville taking turns doing it. And the last one was for 59 seconds and covered over 852 feet against a 20 mile an hour wind. They must have been pretty happy when that happened. I guess they were. It says here they packed up their machine and went back to Dayton, Ohio, determined to try more experiments in the spring. And did they? You bet they did. They kept making their machine better and better until finally the United States government got interested in order to plane from the Wrights, capable of carrying two men and sufficient fuel supplies for a flight of 125 miles with a speed of 40 miles an hour. Leaping lizards, that's progress all right. I'll say it is. And they did it too. Joe, I've been thinking a lot about this. About what, Annie? About aviation. About all Mr. Bond's told us about Professor Kenyon's new silent plane. Of course, who hasn't been thinking about it? Well, I mean all this happening to us, Joe. Being it on the ground floor sort of a new invention. It looks to me, Joe, as if we ought to do more than we're doing about it. What do you mean, Annie? I mean this. Here's the professor out here in Simmons' Corners where he thought he could be alone working on this plane of his. He's too busy to even think of anything else except his invention. I'll say he is. His invention and his chewing gum. And Mr. Bond's too busy helping him to give all the time he should to other things. What other things, Annie? Look, Joe, Professor Kenyon wants his plane, when it's finished, to go to the United States government, doesn't he? Sure he does. He said so. And so has Mr. Bond. Yeah. And it'd be mighty bad if it didn't go to the United States. Now, Mr. Bond says, though he admits he hasn't any proof, that this man Nicholson is a foreign spy. And I'll just bet he is. Well, we don't know, Joe, for sure. Why, Annie, every time we've been over there splitting wood or dusting up, he's trying to find out about the Gregory barn. That's just about all he's talked about. And besides that, didn't we find there a pair of field glasses and a box of guns? We did, Joe, but he explained all that. He said the field glasses were to study bird life. And the guns were to shoot the birds. It just doesn't make sense, Annie. But it still isn't proof. Shucks, how about yesterday when he shot the watchdog blood? We don't know that he shot him, Joe. Didn't you say you saw Nicholson disappearing into the woods right after the shots? No, I didn't, Joe. I said I saw a man who looked like Nicholson. I couldn't swear that it was him. Sure, that's right, Annie. Don't you see, Joe? What we want is proof positive. I see it all right. But how are we going to get it? Look, Joe, if Nicholson really is a foreign spy, he doesn't deserve much mercy. He's been lizards with all the wars and rumors of wars that are going on around the world now. Nobody wants the United States to get tangled up in any of them. All we Americans want is peace. You're right, Annie. And Professor Kenyon wants to give his new silent plane to the United States. Not as a weapon of war, but as a weapon of peace. Because as Mr. Bond says, if the United States does get this plane, and the secret of it, our country can almost enforce peace. While if some foreign country gets it, it's apt to mean war. What about it, Annie? Just this, Joe. Now, we're just a couple of kids, I know. But we're in an important spot. And we may be able to do a lot for our country. You can count me in on anything I can do for my country. I know it, Joe. Look, if Nicholson is a spy and we can prove it, and keep the professor's plan secret for the United States, we'll have done a job, won't we? You bet we will have. Look, Joe, don't you remember once we were in a bad spot over in Cairo, Egypt? Shucks, I'll say we do. That was when Dr. Ogatos in the League of the Cat was after us. Yeah. And what did we do to offset that League of the Cat of Dr. Ogatos? Shucks, we formed your secret society. You bet we did. And that secret society is working to this day. Joe, if our suspicions are right, this Mr. Nicholson is even worse than Dr. Ogatos was. Dr. Ogatos is only working against Daddy Warbucks. Nicholson, if we're right, is working against our country. Gosh, I see what you mean, Annie. Not quite you, don't you? Look, you and I alone can't keep our eye on this Nicholson all the time. Because we have work to do, helping around the farms and things. You're helping your mother, and I'm helping Mrs. Silo. But Joe, there are other kids around here. When we're working, they could be keeping an eye on Nicholson. Shucks, what do you mean, Annie? Just this. When you have to be picking apples and I have to be doing dishes or something, Nicholson's unwatched, isn't he? Well, is there any reason why at that time Squinty or Potato Face or Helen Wilson or somebody else couldn't be keeping an eye on him? Big fish hooks, Annie. I think you've hit it. I think so, Joe. We'll call our secret society on the job again and get them all busy. We're all just kids, but even lizards, there's no reason why kids can't do just as good a job as grownups if they know what they're doing. Boy, oh boy, let's get busy on it. You bet, Joe. Well, there are my school books right there on the steps. There's a lot of tablet paper in my geography. Get it out. I got it, Annie. Got a pencil? Sure, I always carry a pencil in my hip pocket. It's a fella who never knows when he's gonna need a pencil. Good. Now, let's see. We'll write the message first and then we'll make a list of the kids in Simmons' corners who belong to our secret society so we can send it to all of them. All right. Got your decoder pin with you, Annie? Of course. I always carry it pinned right here on my dress. Good for you, Annie. Boy, I guess we'll show this spy if he is a spy. We'll write these messages out now and I'll deliver them to everybody first thing in the morning before school. All right, Joe. Which code key shall we use? Let's see. How about using Y? Y-19. Okay. We'll make Y-19 the code key for this message. Put it down. Now, get ready to write down these secret numbers as I read them off the decoder pin. I'm ready, Annie. Here we go then with the most important secret message we've ever sent. Here's the first word. Seven. Sixteen. Three. Now, the second word is three, twenty-four, seven, twenty-four, twenty-three, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-one. Okay. Next. The third word is twenty, fifteen. The fourth word, nine, twenty, fourteen, twenty-four. And now for the fifth and last word. Five, one, twenty-three, twenty-four. Fifteen. And that's all. Well, did you get that all down? That was an important secret message sent to all the members of Radio Orphan Annie's Secret Society by Annie herself. So all you members get out your super decoder pins and figure it out right away. Just set your super decoder at Y-19. Remember, that's the code key Annie and Joe decided on before Annie read the message. And then your super decoder pin will figure out that whole message for you automatically. And say, if you haven't joined Annie's Secret Society and missed out on that important message, you'd better get busy and join right away because there are going to be lots more of these messages broadcast from time to time. And best of all, you can join Annie's Secret Society absolutely free if you're drinking your Ovaltine every day because here's all you do. Just print your name and address plainly on a piece of paper. And then send it in together with all of the thin, round aluminum seal from underneath a little can of Ovaltine. Mail it to Little Orphan Annie, Chicago, Illinois. Or if you live in Canada, mail it to Ovaltine, Peterborough, Ontario. Now that's all you do. And then Annie sends you the beautiful big gold colored super decoder pin and her 1936 official book of secrets right away. So get busy and send in this very night. And don't forget, be here right on time tomorrow at 545 because now that Annie's decided to set her Secret Society on the trail of Mr. Nicholson, we're going to see things popping faster than ever. Until tomorrow at 545 then, goodbye. Music .
