And now, a tale well calculated to keep you in...
Suspense.
Listen now to No Hiding Place, starring Corp Benson and Grace Matthews,
and written especially for suspense by William N. Robeson.
No, there's no hiding place down there.
Not when the gods of wrath loose their terrible swift sword.
Not when the hound of heaven carries his quarry down the curving lanes of space.
Not when there's the bomb.
But these things happen to somebody else, not to us.
The bomb won't drop on us, we tell ourselves.
Death will not come for us.
And death, offstage, smiles and nods and agrees.
No one ever dies until he is dead.
Here and there you find a strange one.
A citizen and taxpayer who believes what he reads in the papers.
A fellow who takes things seriously.
A fellow who looks after his own.
A fellow like Sam Endover, husband, father,
and the man who believes if you don't do it yourself, nobody will do it for you.
To you, maybe, but not for you.
What does that mean?
Nothing really, just trying to get things started.
Seems to me you've got enough started with that bomb shelter you're digging in the backyard.
Fallout shelter, Mary Lou, no such thing as a bomb shelter these days.
Bombs are too big. No protecting against them, just fallout.
No place in the country is safe from radioactive fallout after an attack.
Except us.
And folks like us who've built their own shelters.
Well, just between you and me, Sam, I wouldn't be caught dead in that cave you've dug.
You'd sure be caught dead outside of it coming attack.
Hey, Bob.
Yes, Andy?
There are a couple of fellas outside from the TV station.
TV?
Oh, yes.
They want to know where the bomb shelter is.
Fallout shelter, Sandy.
Sam, what is this?
Tell them it's out back and tell your sister to come out.
They'll probably want to put us all on TV, I suspect.
Put us on TV?
The very idea, Sam Endover.
Springing a thing like this on me without any warning.
My hair is a sight, my dress is a mess.
Now, now, now, Mary Lou, you look just fine to me.
Oh, now what?
Aha, that'll be the mayor, I imagine.
The mayor?
Yes, you know how politicians like to get in on things like this.
It's a big story.
Locally, that is.
Sam Endover, I'll be surprised if I ever speak to you again as long as I live.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, it is my privilege to introduce your friend and mine,
His Honor, the Mayor of Happy Valley.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Charlie Lemon.
This is a great and historic occasion, my fellow citizens.
It marks the completion of the very first fallout shelter in our fair city.
It is not only as your mayor, but as head of your civil defense organization
that I am here today to congratulate our public minded fellow townsman, Sam Endover.
Hear that, Mary Lou?
He's talking about me.
The very idea of pulling this on me without any warning.
Daddy, do I look all right?
You look scrumptious, honey.
The red light's on.
Eh?
It means the camera's on us.
Percival heavens.
Say cheese, honey.
Here's Sam Endover and his lovely wife, Mrs. Endover, and his two lovely children.
Sam, Sam, I want you to know Happy Valley is proud of you.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Now, Sam, maybe you'd like to tell all the folks out there how come you came to
build this fallout shelter?
Well, Your Honor, it seemed to me everybody was talking about defense and shelters
and nobody was doing anything about it.
It seemed like somebody ought to get started, so I decided to build it.
Splendid, splendid.
Citizenship in action.
Wouldn't you say, Mrs. Endover?
Doesn't make any difference what I say.
When my husband gets a bee in his bonnet, it's an ID fixay, if you know what I mean.
Yes.
Yes, indeed I do.
And what about the young folks?
What do you think about your dad's project?
Who, me?
Yes, my dear, you.
What's your name?
I'm Cindy.
And I'm Sandy.
Yes, Sandy.
Just a minute, Cindy.
How do you like this fallout shelter?
Oh, I don't know.
Is it comfortable?
I don't know.
I guess so.
Oh, how would you know?
You've never even been down in it.
Have you, Sandy?
Sure.
I think it's cool in the half.
Cool in...
Well, Sam, now how about telling the folks about your shelter, eh?
Well, okay.
Well, now up above here, you can see the two ventilating pipes.
You pump stale air out of this one, and it's replaced by fresh air through this one.
Now, inside, well, it isn't a mansion, but it's got all the necessities.
Canned goods, bottled water, paper towels, paper plates, first aid kit.
And you've got a radio, of course.
Oh, yes, and extra batteries.
Everything to keep the family going for two weeks.
Splendid.
Just splendid.
You're to be congratulated, Sam.
Happy Valley is indeed proud of you.
It's very impressive, Mr. Andover, but will it work?
What do you mean, Charlie?
Well, do you really think four people could live in that little room for two weeks?
Of course I do.
Personally, I doubt they could stand it for a week, even for a weekend.
Now, look here, Charlie Lemon.
We're talking about survival, about a matter of life or death.
Yes, I know, but just between you and me, Mr. Andover,
would you really put your family down there in that little hole?
I most certainly would if it became necessary.
And I'll prove it to you and to all the other doubters just how good my shelter is.
What do you mean?
Well, I'll take my family into it right now, just as if we were...
But, Sam!
And we'll spend the weekend down there with no discomfort at all.
And you can stay here, if you like, and take our pictures when we come out.
Maybe that'll be proof, Mr. Charlie Wiseguy Lemon.
Sam, are you out of your mind?
No, but I'm good and mad.
That would be a convincing demonstration, Mr. Andover, if you really mean it.
I mean it!
Go on, Sandy, pile in there.
Oh, boy, the whole weekend.
All right, you next, Cindy.
But, Daddy, I've got a date tonight.
No time for dates.
This is going to be just like it'd be if there was an attack.
In you go.
But, Daddy...
In...
All right, you next, Mary Lou.
Sam, I told you I wouldn't be caught dead down there.
You're not going to let me down in front of the TV audience now, are you?
I just know it.
Mary Lou, please be a pal.
Sam, I...
Besides, it's beginning to rain.
Oh, Sam!
Smile for the camera, like you were saying she is, not fools.
There he goes, ladies and gentlemen.
Mr. Sam Andover has just locked himself and his family into his backyard fallout shelter
to demonstrate how comfortable and safe it is.
Good luck to you, Mr. Andover, and to your courageous family
who will spend the weekend in your homemade fallout shelter.
We return you now to our studios.
You were a little hard on Sam Andover.
Maybe, but it's a better story this way, isn't it?
Yes, I suppose so.
Better story for civil defense.
We might even be able to tie it into a network news show.
Get it all over the country.
My, my, that would be wonderful for Happy Valley, wouldn't it?
Wouldn't hurt you either.
Come next November, would it, Mr. Mayor?
Well, I... I wasn't thinking of that.
Of course not.
Hey, Charlie!
Yeah?
Studio's on the haunt.
Thanks, Joe.
Charlie Lemon here.
This is Mr. Richards, Charlie.
Yes, sir?
That was a nice fast when you just pulled on Sam Andover.
Well, you know how it is.
You made a good show out of a routine pick-up.
I thought so.
Well, here's one that may top that.
What is it?
You get that mobile unit up to Larson Dam as quick as you can.
What's the trouble?
Well, there's none yet, but there may be plenty.
The rain that just started down here is a cloudburst upriver.
They're afraid the dam can't handle it.
I'm on my way. Mobile one over and out.
Wrap it up, boys. We're pulling out.
But what about them? Andover and his family?
You heard what Sam said.
They're safe down there for two weeks.
Yeah.
Say, now, you can't beat this, can you?
All the comforts of home.
Like what?
Why, electric lights, radio, running water?
No television.
Why isn't there any TV, Dad?
It takes up too much room.
Makes too much heat.
And anyway, under attack conditions,
we'd have to depend on radio for instructions.
What are we going to do without any TV?
There are books.
Yes, indeed.
The Bible, Shakespeare,
and what to do till your doctor comes.
And there are magazines.
Here, Cindy, here's your favorite movie magazine.
I saw that one two weeks ago.
Look, Dad, can't I get out of here?
I got a very important date with Alan.
I'm sure Alan understands.
He probably saw you on TV.
Oh, no.
Or heard about you on radio.
You're a celebrity, you know.
First on TV and then on radio.
We all are. Celebrities.
Celebrity or not, the air's getting close down here.
All right, Sandy, crank up the vent blowers.
Sure, Dad.
That clears her out in a hurry.
It does?
Hadn't notice any difference.
You will.
Sam, listen, I've gone along with this the way you asked me to,
but don't ask too much.
I'm telling you now, I intend to sleep in my own bed tonight.
Then can I go on my date?
You two don't seem to realize how important this is.
I realize you let yourself be tricked by that smooth-talking Charlie Lemon
into putting your family through one of the silliest,
most uncomfortable darn fool things.
Now, wait a minute. Look at it this way, Mary Lou.
When people see how easy it is for us to get by in a shelter...
Easy! Ha!
...maybe they might build shelters for themselves.
Now, here's the latest on the storm.
Turn up the radio, son.
Let's see what they have to say about us.
...have been falling steadily in the city
and surrounding countryside for several hours.
This unprecedented downpour has placed a strain on the Larson Dam,
and it's now doubtful if it can hold through the night.
Oh, no.
Residents in Hawthorne Ravine beneath the dam
are being evacuated by police and civilian defense teams.
Elsewhere, mudslides have blocked several roads in the outskirts of the city.
Now, wait a minute.
Just five minutes ago, the mayor declared a state of emergency in Happy Valley
and wired the governor to designate the town as a disaster area.
In addition to the flood danger, mudslides created by the heavy rain
are threatening homes in many areas.
I don't understand that they haven't mentioned us on the radio or leave me.
They have more important things on their minds, it would appear.
Well, it's time to go to bed.
Very well, dear.
You want a lower or an upper?
I said go to bed.
In my own bed?
In my own house.
But we can't do that, Mary Lou.
That would be cheating, going back on my word.
Nobody's going to know or care
if they've gotten all about us with this storm.
Well, Cindy, are you ready for bed?
Oh, yes, ma'am.
I want to stay down here.
I don't care what you men do, but us ladies are going to sleep in the house tonight.
Now, listen, Mary Lou.
You listen to me, Sam. I'm fed up.
I've had it up to here.
Now, you let me out of here this minute.
The lights!
What's that?
Turn on the lights!
Just a minute.
Wait till I find a flashlight.
The storm, the power failure, that's all.
That's all.
Daddy, you know I hate the dark.
Here's a flashlight, Dad.
Good boy, Cindy.
I'm scared, Daddy.
Oh, now, now, there's nothing to be scared about, honey.
We're all together.
Are we?
Are you ready to stop this nonsense and go back to the house?
Oh, all right, Mary Lou, I guess so.
But there probably won't be any lights there either.
There'll be hot water and room to move around in.
All right, all right. You win.
We'll go back to the house.
That's funny.
What?
The door's stuck.
Here, son, take this light a minute, will you?
Try to free her.
She's given a little.
Sam, look.
Eh, what?
Squeezing around the edge of the door.
Mud.
Well, there's no wonder I couldn't push it open against all that muck.
They said on the radio, mudslides.
We're buried in a mudslide.
What are we going to do?
Nothing, Mary Lou, there's nothing we can do.
We're stuck here until they come and get us.
I'm scared, Daddy. I'm scared.
No, Sam, no.
We can't stay down here.
Buried alive.
Now shut up, both of you. We can and we will.
This shelter was designed and equipped to keep the four of us alive for two weeks.
We'll all be dead in two weeks.
They'll come for us long before that.
No, no, no, no, no, they'll forget.
They've got too many other people to take care of.
They'll leave us here to rot in our graves.
I said to shut up!
Gee, Papa.
Oh, Sam, you hit me.
Well, I'm sorry, darling. I had to.
This is no time to panic.
Sandy.
Yes, Dad?
Get on the air pump. I want to make sure our ventilation is working.
Sure, Pop.
Yeah, she's pulling the used air out okay.
Yep, we're getting good pressure from the outside. Good.
Now, listen to me.
We have nothing to worry about, absolutely nothing.
We're in the identical situation we'd be in after an H-bomb attack.
We're forced to remain in this shelter for an indeterminate length of time.
We have fresh air, we have food, we have a little light.
What happens when those batteries burn out?
They won't. If we use the light carefully, they'll last more than two weeks.
There's only one thing that can hurt us.
What, Daddy? What can hurt us?
Ourselves. Cowardice, panic, tears, hysteria.
Like I said, we're okay and we're provided for.
And there's only one thing that is asked of us.
What's that, Dad?
That we survive.
No hiding place down there.
Not when forces beyond man's control conspire against man's comfort and convenience.
No hiding place.
When thunderheads climb majestically in the summer afternoon
and dump a Niagara of rain in one little river valley.
A whim of nature from which no man is altogether safe.
But at least, nature's whim can knock man's.
A storm that is over with the next day's sun.
Not a man-made sun exploding and poisoning air and earth and sky for days on end.
Mobile One, Charlie Lemons speaking.
This is Richards, Charlie. You gonna call it a day?
Two days and a night. I'm beat.
Well, I'll bet you are. Will you take tomorrow off?
Now I'll have Eddie Hartwig cover the mobile unit for you.
Thanks, Mr. Richards.
We'll be pretty quiet, just clean up stuff.
Dam's holding and the water's dropping.
Of course, the mudslides will be giving some trouble until they settle.
But they're mostly in new subdivisions in the hills.
And everyone's been evacuated from the really bad areas.
Well, you can be proud of yourself, Charlie.
You've got a lot of fine pickups the last couple of days
beginning yesterday morning with that family in the fallout shelter.
Holy smokes, I forgot all about them.
Well, no wonder you've been a little busy.
No, no, listen, Mr. Richards. They live in Holly Glen's.
That's the site of one of the worst mudslides.
And I was the one who dared them to go into that shelter.
It's all my fault.
But they're all right. They're in the shelter.
That's for sure. But how do you know they're all right?
I wear my pink pajamas in the summer when it's hot.
I wear my woolen nightie in the winter when it's not.
And sometime in the springtime and sometime in the fall,
I jump between the sheets without a darn thing on at all.
It's a long, long, long time since I heard that song.
Where did you learn it, Sandy?
In the scouts.
Well, I'll be... That's where I first heard it.
When I was a scout, yeah, way back before the war.
Of which war, Dad?
The World War, of course.
One or two.
Sandy, your father's a young man.
Why, he almost missed the Second World War.
He was so young.
Yes, I had to lie about my age,
but they finally made me a drummer boy with an armadillo.
Come on, Dad.
Mary Lou, this is wonderful.
What is, honey?
We're talking to each other. We're kidding with each other.
We're not looking at television.
It's just wonderful.
It is nice, isn't it?
Yeah.
I'm pleased to meet you, Mary Lou.
I'm glad to make your acquaintance, Sandy.
Hi.
Glad to know you, Cindy.
Oh, Daddy.
We've all been away from each other far too long.
Sam?
Yes, darling?
Hold my hand.
Like that?
Like that.
And squeeze it hard.
Like that.
Oh, Sam, I don't want to get lost from you again.
You won't, honey, I promise.
Daddy.
Yes, dear?
I don't feel so good.
What's the matter?
I've got a headache.
And I feel sort of woozy.
Well, we'll fix that.
Sandy, man the pumps.
Aye, aye, sir.
All you need is a little fresh air, my girl.
That's what we got.
Fresh air coming up.
Hey, Dad.
Yeah?
Something's funny.
This pump's hard to turn.
Yeah, let me see.
Yeah, so it is.
You know, I'd keep turning while I test the suction.
No, it's not pumping any air out.
Hand me that broom, Sandy.
Here you are.
Here.
Just poke it up the pipe and see what's obstructing it.
Oh, my...
Sam, what is it?
Oh, no.
Sam, where's all that mud coming from?
From the ventilating pipe, that's where.
The mudslide's covered the shelter completely.
It's blocking the vents.
It's cut off our air.
We're trapped down here.
Sam.
Sam, now don't you press the panic button.
Yeah, yeah, you're right.
I'm sorry.
I wouldn't want to have to slap your face.
Oh, that would never do, not in front of the children.
Daddy, my head aches something awful.
I'll get you some aspirin.
But I'm not sure it'll do any good.
Why not?
Well, I...
I think Daddy better tell you.
Yeah.
Now, listen carefully, kids, and quietly.
We're in a bad spot.
Our air's cut off.
We only have as much air to breathe as there is in the shelter.
Now, I want you to lie down and don't make any sudden movements.
And don't breathe deeply.
We've got to conserve the air as long as we can.
For how long, Dad?
I don't know, Sandy, until they come and dig us out.
But they won't come.
Mother said so.
Crying won't make them come.
Now, knock it off.
Yes, Daddy.
Take this aspirin, dear.
Wait a minute.
We're having so much fun entertaining ourselves.
I forgot all about the portable radio.
Turn it on, son.
Let's see if anybody's got a bigger disaster than we have.
...in the basement of the police station.
Two bulldozers are needed at once in Holly Glen.
Two bulldozers to Holly Glen at once.
Listen, Holly Glen.
Maybe they remember.
They have. Listen.
This is a message to Sam Andover and his family
in their bomb shelter in Holly Glen.
Your shelter is buried beneath a mudslide.
Mudslide?
We are making every effort to dig you out.
Oh, thank God.
Bulldozers are on their way.
But meantime, volunteer civil defense workers
are shoveling away at this mountain of mud
from which I am speaking directly above you.
Hang on.
Right above us.
Don't panic.
Help is on its way.
On its way.
But will it get here soon enough?
How does it look, Mr. Mayor?
That mudslide's treacherous, Charlie.
As soon as the dozer cuts away a path,
the hill comes down and fills it up.
Is there any estimate on when they'll get through?
It's anybody's guess.
I feel terrible about this.
You know, it's my fault they're down there.
Don't feel too bad yet.
Look at what happened to their house.
That big tree fell right across the bedroom wing.
They'd all be dead if they'd been there last night.
Maybe they're dead anyway.
Let us pray that they're not.
Yeah, you do that.
Hey, Joe.
Yeah?
Cut me into program channel.
Okay.
Start in my cue.
This is a message to Sam Andover and his family.
This is a message to Sam Andover and his family.
Charlie Lemon speaking.
This mudslide is giving us a lot of trouble.
But the bulldozers are making headway.
Two of them have been working for the last hour.
Sandy.
And we've sent for two more.
Where's Sandy?
So don't worry.
He's run dangerous.
We're going to get you out.
Sandy?
She's still breathing.
I repeat, this is a message to Sam Andover and his family.
Let me turn off the radio.
Oh, honey, I'm sorry.
I'm so sorry.
Oh, shh.
Don't get excited.
Don't use up the air, dear.
It's all my fault.
I got you into this.
I made you.
You brought us all together, Sam.
That's what's most important.
We're together.
For the first time in a long, long time.
Sam.
Yes, dear.
Kiss me, Sam.
I guess I'm slipping.
I thought I heard...
So did I.
The tricks our imagination plays on us.
No.
No, it isn't imagination.
They made it.
They got you.
Oh, thank God.
All right.
I'll take Cindy.
Can you handle Sandy?
Yes, dear.
Here they are.
They're all okay.
Mother.
Okay, darling, we're all right.
Smile for the television cameras.
I know.
I think I was saying cheese, not prunes.
Suspense.
You've been listening to No Hiding Place,
starring Corp Benson and Grace Matthews,
and written especially for Suspense by William N. Robeson.
Suspense is produced and directed by Bruno Zarrano Jr.,
and music supervision by Ethel Huber.
Heard in tonight's story were Lee Vines as Charlie Lemon,
Leon Janney as the Mayor, Jim Z. Summers as Cindy,
Larry Robinson as Sandy,
William Smith as Mr. Richards,
and Ivor Francis as the announcer.
This is Stuart Metz, inviting you to listen again next week
when we return with Dreams, written by Jack Bundy,
another tale well calculated to keep you in.
Suspense.
Stars shed their inhibitions,
and we'll see you next time on Godfrey Time Weekdays
on the HBO network.