Auto Light and its 98,000 dealers bring you Mr. Jack Benny in tonight's presentation of
Suspense.
Tonight, Auto Light, following a popular trend, anticipates the strange disappearance of experimental
rocket ship Y-272B, the time, the year 2053, the place, the planet Mars, the star, Mr.
Jack Benny.
Say, Hap, that was quite a speech you made last night.
You were as dynamic as an Auto Light staple battery.
Oh, that's flattery, Harlow.
And what a battery it is, Hap.
The Auto Light staple is the power-packed pepster that needs water only three times
a year in normal car use.
I really don't deserve such praise, Harlow.
Why not?
That's the battery with the fiberglass retaining mats protecting every positive plate to reduce
shedding and flaking and give the Auto Light staple longer life, as proved by tests conducted
according to accepted life cycle standards.
That was really good, Hap Harlow.
No one could do any better than to visit his nearest Auto Light battery dealer, whose services
all makes of batteries.
To quickly locate him, just call Western Union by number.
And ask for operator 25.
I'll tell you the name of your nearest Auto Light battery dealer, where you can get an
Auto Light staple.
The battery that needs water only three times a year in normal car use.
And remember, from bumper to tail light, you're always right with Auto Light.
And now, Auto Light presents Transcribed Plan X, starring Mr. Jack Benny, hoping once again
to keep you in suspense.
The card.
Do you have the card yet?
One more run through the machine.
Toreg, when do you think the Earth rocket is arriving?
Tomorrow.
But if the Grand Council wanted the card before now, they should have asked me before now.
Is that it?
Let me see it.
Here.
23756, Zeno, assembly line worker, atomic escalator factory.
Toreg, this is the man for the job?
He has the specifications called for.
An assembly line worker.
Why, it's incredible.
Incredible.
Yes?
Yes, right away.
You may go in now, Zeno.
The Grand Council is ready for you.
13756, called Zeno.
Come forward.
Yes, sir.
Zeno, the Grand Council of Mars has a mission for you to perform.
Me?
A mission?
A mission selected because of the qualities shown on your work and identity card, form
42-A. Set habit patterns, attention to detail, no strong emotional or biological drives, and
complete suppression of imagination.
Well, I always pride myself that I...
Do not speak unless questioned, Zeno.
The Grand Council has other important matters of state.
Of course, of course.
You have heard the telephone broadcast that an armed rocket from the planet Earth is approaching
Mars.
Hmm?
Oh, I did hear something about it, yes.
Their course has been plotted as bringing them to a landing on the plane outside the
city at 1014 tomorrow morning.
1014.
You know, I wouldn't mind seeing that.
You will see it, citizen Zeno.
Me?
You.
Well, I'd certainly like to, but I'm due in the atomic escalator factory at eight.
I'm on stair treads, you know, and...
We've arranged a leave from your job.
A leave?
Well I'm not arguing with the Grand Council, but I've got a pretty important job there
and...
One three seven five six, you've been selected to meet and deal with the Earth rocket.
Me?
You will put Plan X into operation.
Plan X?
Citizen Zeno, every Martian for the last 50 years has been thoroughly grounded in Plan
X if and when a rocket should come from the Earth.
Oh.
Oh, Plan X.
Oh, you see, I thought you said Plan X, of course.
Then you understand and accept the responsibility.
Oh, anything to help out.
Those assisting you on the mission will be in contact with you.
Good, good.
Have the other council members any questions?
One three seven five six, Colt Zeno.
You are now officially operating under the provisions of Plan X.
Well, thank you.
I took the aerial transmission belt directly home, let them get along without me at the
escalator factory if they could.
Besides, it was almost quitting time.
I went to bed early that night.
Tomorrow was going to be a big day.
Plan X. Out of the whole population of Mars, I was picked to carry out Plan X.
Oh, I'll admit I had my criticisms of the Grand Council in the past, but this restored
my confidence in them.
Yes, sir.
They couldn't have picked a better Martian.
I think I'll have a second cup of Ostrich, Mother.
Zeno, you haven't time.
You'll be late for the factory as it is.
As I told you, Mother, I'm on leave.
Orders of the Grand Council.
Oh, yes, of course, Plan X.
But will the Grand Council care if you don't get your job back?
There won't be any trouble.
They couldn't replace me in stared treads and they know it.
Pass the Gorat, will you, Mother?
Here.
But it's fattening, Zeno.
Well, I got a hard task coming up, Mother.
I owe it to myself.
And you will be careful, Zeno.
Oh, Mother, if I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times.
It's just an invasion rocket from that stupid planet Earth.
So will you stop worrying?
Oh, you're just like your father was, Zeno.
Too brave for your own good.
I am?
Well, it's nothing, really.
I took my time going over to the field where the Earth rocket was to land.
I got there ten, with not another soul around.
Another few minutes and I had my pocket radar screen working.
Yep, the rocket was coming in right on time.
Then I could hear it out in space and soon after that I could see it, bearing our first
visitors from Earth.
Gee, I was thinking they must be a brave crew.
I almost felt sorry for them.
It wasn't a bad landing.
Not the greatest, but not bad.
After another ten minutes, a port in the side of the rocket started to swing open and I
walked over.
If I do say it myself, I made quite an impression.
Commander, Commander, look.
Great Scott, what is it?
Commander, I think we've met our first Martian.
All right, keep back everybody.
Dr. Fielding and I will deal with it.
Him, whatever it is, hand me the Martian kit, Parker.
All ready, sir.
Come on, Fielding.
Be ready for anything.
Right, Commander.
Incredible, absolutely incredible.
I'll try to talk to him.
We Earth people, we Martians, we are the Martians.
We are the Martians.
We are friends.
Friends, we come from out there.
Blast that Fielding, I feel like a fool.
Let me try, Commander.
We bring you presents here.
We bring you beads, cloths of many colors.
Take them.
You wouldn't have something a little more conservative?
Fielding, he speaks Esperanto.
Incredible, incredible.
Gentlemen, welcome to Mars.
It's almost as if he was expecting us.
Oh yes, for some days now.
Ever since you left Earth, as a matter of fact.
You hear that, Fielding?
Commander, we may very well be in the presence of a superior race.
Well, thank you.
You say you expected us?
Everyone expected us?
Oh certainly.
But you're here alone.
Yes, well unfortunately, all other adult Martians are, shall we say, unavailable.
For how long?
Not wishing to pry, but how long are you staying?
Well, they've taken to the hills, have they?
No need to be afraid of us.
No need at all.
There's no one in your city over there?
Mainly unavailable.
But I'll be glad to show you around.
Even hospitality, you know.
Amazing.
Can we go right away, Commander?
I'll get Connie.
Well, you can call her Fielding, but we don't want to blunder into a trap.
All right, men.
All in.
Parker, take three men and stay here for rocket guard.
Yes, sir.
Ready, Fielding?
All set, Commander.
Connie, I want you to meet our first Martian.
Dr. Fielding, I don't believe it.
Miss Morrison, this is 13756.
Call Zeno.
Miss Morrison, this is Zeno.
How do you do?
Well, how do you do?
Incredible.
But he's almost handsome in a strange way.
And he speaks our language.
Maybe a trick of some kind.
Expedition force, on to... to...
It's a little difficult to pronounce.
On to the city.
We march into the city, which of course appeared quite deserted.
Plan X.
I show them a few of the sites, the canals, the Og Factory, and the hall of the Grand Council.
I was walking alongside of Connie, Miss Morrison, who was most unlike the women of Mars.
I caught myself showing off, riding the aerial transmission belt with one hand.
Finally, I took them all to the art museum.
Oh, Commander, this place, this civilization, it's fantastic, fantastic.
Look at this sculpture, Dr. Fielding, the line, the detail.
I've never seen anything so beautiful.
It's nothing really.
Zeno, you don't mean that you...
Well, no, no, no.
You see, I work at an atomic escalator factory.
I'm in stair creds.
Everybody, over here.
Look at this.
Oh, what is it?
What?
Wait, isn't that...
What is it?
Zeno.
Yes, is this what I think it is?
Hmm?
I'll have to read the nameplate.
Oh, yes, yes, a flying saucer from 1952, your calendar, 100 years old.
1952, the year of the flying saucers.
Then they did come from Mars.
Oh, yes.
But none of them ever landed on Earth.
Why?
It just didn't seem worthwhile.
Nothing personal, of course.
I just can't get over this planet.
It's so different from anything we imagined.
Now here's something you might be interested in.
Right over here.
What looks like a weapon of some kind.
Oh, yes.
Yeah, you see, it's a paralyzer ray.
It's 300 years old.
But why do you have it in a museum?
You don't mean that weapons like this are 300 years obsolete.
Well, you might say that, yes.
You see, no adult Martian has carried a weapon for hundreds of years.
Why not?
Why should we?
But to defend yourself.
Well, we just have no aggressive impulses, that's all.
If someone struck you, wouldn't you strike back?
I couldn't.
But it doesn't matter.
No one could strike me.
No Martian, that is.
Yes.
We've never had any trouble.
Zeno, you're in the diplomatic service?
The escalator game.
Yet you were delegated to meet us.
Yes, by the Grand Council.
You see, we stopped having diplomats handle our important missions years ago.
Again, nothing personal, of course.
I see.
But you are empowered to deal with us.
Deal with you?
I certainly am.
Good.
Now, it seems logical to me that we should work out a mutual defense pact.
Not right now, of course.
Mr. Zeno!
Who's that?
It looks like children.
We have to see him, Mr. Zeno!
Just some little friends of mine.
Oh, they're darling.
What's the problem, army?
We're building something, and we're all out of uranium.
We need some right away, and...
Zeno, does he mean real uranium?
Oh, of course, Dr. Fielding.
It won't hurt them a bit.
We have to have it right away, Mr. Zeno.
We just have to have it.
This city was deserted.
Where did these children come from?
Oh, you know how it is with kids when they get to playing.
You'll get the uranium for us, won't you, Mr. Zeno?
Will you?
Fascinating.
What are they playing, Zeno?
Yes, what's the game?
I don't think you've heard of it, Commander.
It's called Plan X.
Auto Light is bringing you Mr. Jack Benny in Plan X, tonight's presentation in Radio's
outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense.
Say Harlow, do you like to make speeches?
Sure, Hap, especially about the Auto Light Stayful Battery.
Friends, Romans, motorists, lend me your ears while I praise the greatest of the great,
the incomparable Auto Light Stayful.
The battery that needs water only three times a year in normal car use.
The battery that gives longer life is proved by tests conducted according to accepted life
cycle standards.
The famous Auto Light Stayful has over three times the liquid reserve of ordinary batteries.
And because every positive plate is protected by fiberglass retaining mats to reduce shedding
and flaking, the Auto Light Stayful just naturally gives longer life than ordinary batteries.
And where can one get this glorious battery?
Find your nearest Auto Light Battery dealer who services all makes of batteries.
To quickly locate him, just phone Western Union and ask for Operator 25.
And I'll tell you where you can get an Auto Light Stayful, the battery that needs water
only three times a year in normal car use.
And remember, from bumper to tail light, you're always right with Auto Light.
And now, Auto Light brings back to our Hollywood soundstage Mr. Jack Benny in Elliot Lewis's
production of Plan X, a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.
For the next week, I showed the Earth expedition around the city, signed a few treaties, and
had several long conversations with Miss Morrison.
Well, not too long, but I felt we were building a solid friendship.
It was too bad it was coming to an end.
You're not going out again this evening, Zeno.
Mother, so I've been out two evenings in a row.
It doesn't have to be fatal, you know.
This is the time of year you always get that chest cold.
No chest cold, chest cold.
Anyway, Mother, I have to go over to the rocket.
Don't they plan to go back to Earth tomorrow?
They plan to, yes.
Miss Morrison promised to take a little farewell walk with me this evening.
Don't let her keep you out in the moonlight too long, Zeno.
Mother, why, that's the most ridiculous thing I've...
You just don't know how attractive you are.
Now, Mother, Miss Morrison and I are merely friends.
And to think of anything beyond that is just...
Mr. Zeno!
We're almost finished the game, Mr. Zeno.
Good, good.
All finished, Army?
Just about.
It's tomorrow morning at 8.45, isn't it?
8.45.
Anything else you need, Army?
I mean, any more uranium?
No, I just wanted to make sure it was 8.45.
Well, see you in the morning, Mr. Zeno.
Goodbye, Mr. Zeno.
See you in the morning, Army.
Such a cute little fellow, Zeno.
And smart.
Is he?
Mother, you have no idea.
The Earth Expedition was camped beside their rocket getting ready for takeoff the next
day.
Connie, Miss Morrison, waved when she saw me coming.
I waved back and then she smiled at me and I smiled back.
It was a beautiful evening.
We walked out over the plane, Connie and I, and then we sat down quite close.
Connie lit a cigarette and I opened up a package of Gercog.
Zeno?
Yes, Connie.
Miss Morrison.
Connie.
How is it you're not married, Zeno?
Don't Martians believe in it?
Oh, definitely.
But there's mother and...
And what?
Connie, you don't find me a little bit strange?
You mean because you're a Martian?
Not exactly.
You see, even to Martian girls, I'm a little bit strange.
I find you very attractive, Zeno.
Really?
You're from a superior race?
Well...
The Commander may not see it, but Dr. Fielding does and I do.
Your civilization, your culture, and you.
Actually, I'm...
What are the other Martians like?
You know, I seem to feel there are people all around watching, waiting, and yet we've
seen only you.
And the children, of course.
Yes, and the children.
They've been playing around the rocket all day.
Yes, yes.
Zeno, what'll happen to this planet, this beautiful planet, when the next Earth rocket
comes and the next one?
Connie.
I'd almost like to stay here, or I wish we'd never come.
None of us.
Connie, there's something I...
I...
What, Zeno?
What is it?
It's just that... it's getting cold.
Maybe we'd better go back.
I walked with Connie back to the rocket and then I went home.
There was a message on the autofonapad.
The Grand Council wanted to see me at once.
You sent for me, gentlemen?
13756, called Zeno.
You are nearing the completion of Plan X.
I hope my work has been satisfactory.
You were selected for certain qualifications, Zeno.
Set habit patterns, attention to detail, no strong emotional drives.
I remember, yes.
You have assumed a responsibility based on those qualifications.
I suppose you might put it that way.
Are you still prepared to discharge that responsibility?
Well, I...
I think you might as well know that it's been my criticism in the past, as well as that
of a lot of other taxpayers, that the Grand Council interferes entirely too much in the
private lives of... well...
Well, what I mean to say...
Are you prepared to discharge your responsibility?
But about Connie, I mean Miss Morrison, isn't there some way...
You know that there is not.
Well, I...
I suppose not, no.
Plan X will then be completed.
I assure the Grand Council, at 845 tomorrow morning, Plan X will be completed.
I didn't sleep well that night.
Mother was worried when I hadn't any appetite in the morning.
She thought it was the start of one of my chest colds.
Purposely I didn't go out to the rocket until almost 840.
They were blasting the motors, getting ready to take off.
Zeno, I thought you weren't coming.
I overslept, Connie.
That is, I didn't really oversleep, but...
The children have been here for an hour.
We're just about finished playing, Mr. Zeno.
Oh, good army.
Did you win the game, Plan X?
I think so.
We'll know in a minute, Mr. Zeno.
They're so intense.
Are the children on Mars always that way, Zeno?
Well, not always, no.
Oh, come to see us off, did you, Zeno?
Good boy, we counted on you.
Well, thank you.
Come over here, Fielding.
Yes, Commander.
Connie, Fielding, Zeno here has been so helpful to us that I've come to a decision.
That's very nice of you, but I'm pretty well stocked up on beads right now, and I...
Ah, a different kind of a present.
Zeno, I have decided to invite you to come with us to Earth.
How about it, Zeno?
We're taking off in 16 minutes at 9 o'clock.
How about it?
Well, it's not that I don't appreciate your thinking of me, but Mother would worry and...
You see, we need you, Zeno.
That's not true.
Well, I'm afraid it is.
You see, I think Zeno is a much more important man than a worker in an elevator factory.
Escalator.
I'm in stair trains.
And if we have Zeno along the next time we come back to Mars, we'd be much less likely
to run into, well, an ambush.
I'm afraid he's right, Connie.
He's not right.
How about it, Zeno?
Thanks, but no.
Commander, those kids, they've got some sort of a ray gun set up.
Fielding.
Is it real fielding?
Why, it looks like it, Commander.
Get Zeno over in front of us, quick.
Now they can't shoot without hitting him.
Get your gun out, Parker.
You mean the kids, Commander?
If we have to, yes.
Tell them not to fire on us, Zeno.
I'm sorry, Connie.
Really sorry.
Oh, it's all right, Zeno.
Do what you have to do.
Shall we shoot, Mr. Zeno?
Have your gun ready, Parker.
It wouldn't do any good, Commander.
All right, Army.
Plan X.
Did you, did you fire, Parker?
Me, sir?
Did you fire a gun?
Why, I couldn't.
I couldn't do a thing like that.
No, no, of course you couldn't.
I, I don't know what made me ask.
The rocket, its motors have stopped.
Its motors have stopped, Commander.
Well, we aren't going anywhere, are we?
Someone said something about going back to Earth.
Back to Earth?
Oh, no.
Of course not, of course not.
Everybody all right?
What happened, Commander?
What happened?
Nothing, really.
It's just that Army and his little friends
built a maturity ray.
It takes people who are, shall we say, less advanced
and increases their IQ by several thousand years.
That's amazing.
Child's play.
Zeno, do you mean to say...
Commander, Dr. Fielding, Parker, Connie,
permit me to congratulate you as fellow Martians.
Utterly amazing.
Connie.
Look, here come the Martians.
Our fellow Martians, thousands of them.
They're coming to welcome us.
Connie.
Oh, look at them.
Oh, they look so handsome, so intelligent, so...
Connie.
Yeah, excuse me, Zeno.
I'll be back, Commander.
I have to go to them.
I'll be back.
Well, she did like me for a while before Plan X.
But she did like me even just for a while.
That's something, isn't it?
Suspense presented by Autolight, tonight's star, Mr. Jack Benny.
This is Harlow Wilcox again, speaking for Autolight,
world's largest independent manufacturer of automotive electrical equipment.
Autolight is proud to serve the greatest names in the industry.
That's why during the early months of 1953, as we did last year,
the Autolight family will join in saluting the leading car manufacturers
who install Autolight products as original equipment.
Our Autolight family is a worldwide family and numbers among its members
some 30,000 men and women in Autolight plants in the United States, Canada,
and many foreign countries, and the 18,000 people who have invested
a portion of their savings in Autolight, as well as thousands of Autolight
distributors and dealers and the many leading manufacturers
who use Autolight products as original equipment.
Our Autolight family will salute the Dodge division of Chrysler Corporation
on the next Autolight suspense program on television.
If you live in a television area, check the day and time of suspense
so that you'll be sure to see this program.
Music
Next week, the dramatic report of a man's desperate race for freedom.
A true story with names and places changed in order to protect the lives of the principles.
The story is called, The Man Who Cried Wolf.
Our star, Mr. Jeff Chandler.
That's next week on Suspense.
Music
Suspense is transcribed and directed by Elliot Lewis
with music composed by Lucian Morrowick and conducted by Ludgluskin.
Plan X was written for Suspense by Richard Powell.
Featured in tonight's cast were Mary Jane Croft, Norma Varden, John McIntyre,
Trude Amarsson, Howard McNeer, William Conrad, Jack Crouchon, Joseph Kearns, and Stuffy Singer.
The Jack Benny Show may be heard every Sunday on the CBS Radio Network.
And remember next week, Mr. Jeff Chandler in The Man Who Cried Wolf.
Music
The 1953 March of Dimes has nearly passed by.
If you haven't given your dime or dollar to help in the crusade against polio, why not do it now?
Send your contribution to your local March of Dimes headquarters.
Music
This is the CBS Radio Network.
Music