Everett Sloane stars in a Hank Searls script (written as “Michael Frost”) about well-meaning “sabotage” of a satellite by changing its capability to would jam and disrupt all radio and television transmission signals replacing it with a looping voice message in major languages that said “thou shalt not kill.”
William N. Robson’s monologue includes the sarcastic line “…we state unequivocally that this program is against murder.” This ties in with the story, which is a creative rant against Cold War tensions and the feeling that World War III was always lurking around the corner and might be in the very next newscast. It is also sarcastic from a different perspective. For many of its years on the air, especially in the 1940s, Suspense was always a target of commentators and activists that there was too much murder and violence on radio. Radio columnists always warned parents not to allow their children to listen. But that’s another story. Robson, however, makes a distinction by saying “...we play around with the more titillating and entertaining aspects of murder from time to time, but fundamentally we are against it as a personal, national or international policy.” It follows with a plea that he hopes the message of this story is not too late for the latter.
The basic plot is that the scientist who developed this special satellite has a change of heart when he has a ghostly visitor, a reminder of his past brothers in war, assigned to Company A, many of whom did not survive. That spectral visitor, Private Botchner, was one of them. He has a message for the scientist that he should do something in his project to work for peace. That is when Sloane’s character has an idea to record some of his co-workers, under a ruse that he was helping the chaplain, to record the words “thou shalt not kill” in their own language. He then created a looping message that was put into the satellite’s transmission equipment. The message went out… and there was great upsetment among his superiors. He was going to be reprimanded. Then, there was a sudden change in the news that the sentiments toward working to reduce tensions was starting to have an effect. The scientist was released.
The fact that Searls was the author of this story is interesting, as one might not expect someone with his background to pen a story that implied that the strategy of sending a “thou shalt not kill” message could create a turning point in world tensions. It seems too simple. Searls graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1944 and, and was an active-duty officer until 1954. He was a gunnery officer, and was involved in air photo reconnaissance for part of his career. Having served during WW2 and the Korean War, he had a unique perspective and frustration about Cold War tensions that were partly expressed in this script. Many who served in wartime had similar feelings because they saw war up close and in the trenches, and experienced its aftermath. In the 1950s there was hope that there could be such a turnaround as the story describes, and many looked toward organizations such as the United Nations as a means of dialogue to reduce tensions and increase cooperation.
In today’s times, some may feel that this story seems too trite, too elementary, and devoid of the sophisticated nuances of diplomacy and peacemaking. In the time of its broadcast, it likely struck a nerve, and possibly a chord, especially for Robson, who was just a few years away (but could not have imagined it) from leading many of the productions of Voice of America.
The program was recorded on Wednesday, July 23, 1958. Rehearsal began at 2:00pm, with recording starting at 4:30pm. With in-studio edits, the session ended at 6:00pm. Additional production edits were made and concluded at 8:00pm.
Of the four ad spots, one was for Sterling Drug (likely for Bayer Aspirin), and one for GMC Trucks. The other spots were allocated before broadcast but were not yet booked at the time of recording.
The surviving recording is a low quality, heavily edited network aircheck (it has the network ID at its conclusion). It is hoped that an Armed Forces Radio Service transcription disc might be found in the future.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP580803
THE CAST
EVERETT SLOANE (The Doctor), Lillian Buyeff (Carolyn / Miss Barbara Chang), John Dehner (Colonel / French Voice), Barney Phillips (Private Botchner), Jack Kruschen (Von Terhoff / Guard / 1st Russian Voice), Sam Pierce (Radio Announcer / Countdown P.A. announcer), George Walsh (Narrator)
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