And now, tonight's presentation of radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense.
Tonight, we bring you Transcribe, a story of a very ordinary family and what happens
when a UFO lands in their backyard.
We call it Heavens to Betsy.
So now, starring Trude Marson and Hia Aberbach, here is tonight's Suspense play, Heavens to
Betsy.
A lot of people might call what happened to the
Doyle's, a fantasy, or an allegory, or mass hysteria, or just about anything.
But it happened, no matter what you call it.
And you couldn't convince the government, the half dozen army men, and the Doyle's that
it didn't.
In particular, you couldn't convince Betsy Doyle.
The day it started wasn't much different to any other day.
It was about five o'clock in the evening, and there was a thunder and rainstorm hanging
around the suburb where the Doyle's lived.
Henry Doyle was still at the bank, about to leave for home.
Betsy Doyle was in the kitchen cooking dinner.
And eight-year-old Dicky Doyle was listening to the radio.
So, Captain Spaceman, you are ready to tell us where you have hidden the galactic astroprism?
Never, Pothoth.
With all your secret knowledge, if you're really so smart, you should be able to use
your visioautoscope and find out for yourself.
Unfortunately, while you put up such a tremendous, although useless, struggle against the Royal
Soldiers of Gramick, the visioautoscope was smashed.
It will take two days to repair it, and I cannot afford to wait.
That's too bad, Pothoth.
Then I am afraid I have no other...
Darn it.
Are you all right, dear?
I'm not sure, Mom, but the darn thing...
Oh, it must have been a thunder.
It was a thunder.
It must have been a thunder and thunder.
It was
A thunderbolt.
It was a thunderbolt.
It was suffering in pain.
It was asking, I say, as though nothing...
You know, Grandma, it would be a bray to swat inside so quickly.
Did you really hear?
If it was a thunderbolt, I mean.
Oh, be careful of it.
Who's the就是說?
It was a thunderbolt.
Okay.
You can help me in the kitchen if you want.
Oh, I guess I'll read a book or something.
Why don't you bring it in the kitchen and read it?
You can keep me company. I wish you would.
Okay, ma.
Hello?
Hello, Betts. Are you all right over there?
Ella?
Hi. Oh, sure, we're fine.
Wasn't that something?
I thought it was right on the house.
Oh, I was scared too.
I looked out the window and I saw the flash.
It looked like it was in your backyard.
Oh, thank heavens it wasn't.
It must have been on the other side of the tree.
I guess so.
Honey, I've got to get back to my dinner.
I'll call you back.
Okay.
That's how it started.
The great flash, the explosion,
and there was only a static to speak for the radio.
Dickie took his latest space science comic book to the kitchen
and became lost in willowy women of the future
and their comrades in bravery,
super-reggun armed,
invincible globe headed, granite jawed heroes.
His mother prosaically made dumplings for the stew.
It was five minutes to six when the phone rang again.
Will you get it, dear?
Sure, ma.
Hello?
Hello, Betts.
This is Richard Doyle.
Oh, Dickie, this is Mrs. Gilbert, dear.
Is everything all right over there?
Can I talk to your mother?
Mom's making dumplings. She can't come to the phone.
Oh.
Well, ask her what that funny glow is over your way.
Is there fire in the woods?
Did the thunderbolts hit fire or something?
I don't see anything.
No fire around here, Mrs. Gilbert.
Besides, the rain would put out a fire.
Well, there is something glowing, Dickie.
I can see it from my window.
I don't know why you can't.
It's right out there near your house.
Maybe it's out the back. I'll take a look, Mrs. Gilbert.
All right, dear.
Who is it, Dickie?
Mrs. Gilbert, Mom.
She says there's a glow around here somewhere.
A glow?
Yeah, she said it was a fire.
I'm gonna take a look out back.
Oh, no, you're not.
It's pouring out there.
You can pull up the shade and see out the window.
Okay.
I'll be glad when your father gets home.
I don't like these storms.
Dickie, will you...
What's that?
I don't know, Mom.
I guess it's what Mrs. Gilbert was talking about.
Kind of a glow.
It's in the backyard.
It's on fire.
No, no, it isn't.
It's just a... something shining.
Pull down the shade. Pull down the shade.
Hurry. Hurry.
Oh, my.
Don't you be scared. We've got to think.
What would your father do?
Maybe we should go and see.
You'd better give your old man a kiss.
Oh, dear.
I didn't hear you come in.
No, I guess you didn't.
I'm so...
Dear, there's something out there.
Where?
In the back. We saw it.
No!
You mustn't go out.
I'll get it. What?
Look.
See, Dad? All shiny and glowy.
Where'd that come from?
I don't know.
Ella called and said she saw it from her house.
Didn't she, Dickie?
Yeah.
Oh, hey, hey, hey.
All right. Quiet, son. We've got to investigate this.
Yeah, but, Dad...
Son, there's something out there, all right.
No question about that.
Can't see too well. The shrubs are in the way.
It's like neon lights. Only all over.
You going out there, Dad? Can I come with you?
Son, this is one of those times I was telling you about.
Fools rush in where brave men fear to tread.
You remember me telling you that?
Yes, Dad.
Well, this is one of those times.
Mr. Doyle turned back to the window
and stood staring out into the wet night,
softly radiant from the glow in his backyard.
He was a man to whom the unusual rarely, if ever, happened.
A man who in his teens dreamed of adventure and heroism,
and his twenties dreamed of adventure and heroism,
and now in his late thirties still dreamed of adventure.
The heroism at least was tempered by the
knowledge of his own weaknesses.
His life had been ordinary,
and he could never completely forgive life for that.
Now there was something out there in the night,
and he knew that it was the beginning of a great moment.
He thought, I don't know what it is, but it's different.
I can feel it. I know it.
I'm a little afraid to go out and see, but I want to.
It's my chance, whatever it is.
It's come to me, to Betsy.
It might even be...
Dad? Dad, what do you think?
What do you think it is?
Oh, yes, son, I was looking at it.
This is a time for caution.
Betsy, go up and get my pistol, will you?
No, no, I will not.
You call the police, the fire that brought the...
It's not a fire. It's a thing.
Probably perfectly harmless, but I want to make sure.
Oh, Henry, please.
Dicky, get my pistol, will you?
Oh, boy, sure, Dad, be right back.
I don't want you to go out.
Henry, if you love me, you'll...
I love you, and I'm going to find out what it is.
Here you are, Dad.
Thank you, son.
Well, if you're going, I'm going too.
Oh, no.
Oh, yes.
Dicky, you get my raincoats in the hall.
Okay, Mom.
Honey...
There's no use talking. I'm going.
What...
What do you think it is in the yard?
I don't know, but I've got an idea.
Oh, here, Mom.
Can I come too, Dad? Can I?
No, son, you stay here.
All right, Henry, I'm ready.
All right, come on, and stay behind me, you understand?
I'll watch from the window.
Yes, you do that, son.
It's so bright.
That light.
Well, we'll get a good look at it when we get past the shrubs.
Henry!
Look!
You wanted to know what it is?
I'll tell you.
It's the greatest thing that's ever happened in the world.
I knew it would happen someday.
It's a UFO, that's what it is.
A flying saucer!
You are listening to Heaven's Tabetse,
tonight's presentation in radio's outstanding theater of theater.
The best of the best.
The world's outstanding theater of thrills, suspense.
...
Driving tonight?
CBS radio hopes you're not taking any chances.
It takes only a split second to turn a gambler into a corpse.
On today's highways.
Keep in line when your vision ahead is obscured.
Keep well back of the car in front of you.
When you ride up on his tail pipe,
you're assuming all his risks too.
Don't pass until you've got a clear lane for it with no opposing traffic in it for a safe distance and then some.
Play it smart and survive.
And now we bring back to our Hollywood soundstage Truda Marson and Hai Aberback,
starring in tonight's production, Heaven's Tibetse, a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.
That's what it was all right.
No longer an unidentified flying object, but a very real flying saucer.
Henry Doyle believed in saucers and this one had landed in their backyard and lay in the mud glowing,
a soft rich silvery glow.
They were lost in excitement and with it went their normal earth like fear.
Together they walked around it.
Well, I figure eight feet long and three wide and about two feet high.
Wouldn't you say that Betts?
Hmm, I guess so.
There's no door, no windows or anything.
How are the people going to get out?
I don't know. I don't know.
What's that?
Hmm?
Siren.
Somebody else must have seen it.
I'll bet it's the police.
Yeah.
Yeah, wouldn't be surprised.
Come on, let's get inside.
What are you going to do?
If they come here, you let me do the talking.
I don't want you or Dickie to say a word.
But Henry, I...
I want you to promise me this is the most important thing in our lives.
I mean it, Betts.
You promise?
What's got into you, Henry?
They're so funny.
I just don't...
All right. All right.
I'll tell you.
This thing, this saucer, it doesn't surprise me, see?
I've known this was going to happen.
I'm not like those people who laugh and make jokes about it.
I knew it was coming.
Up there, up there on some planet, it's been planned for a long time,
a billion miles away.
They didn't surprise Henry Doyle though.
No, no.
This is big.
Bigger than you can imagine.
And maybe we're the first people in the world to know about it.
That's why.
From here on, no matter what happens, I want you to let me do the talking.
Do you understand?
Yes, Henry.
Is something wrong, officer?
Well, that's what we want to find out.
I got a call from Mrs. Gilbert down the road.
Said she called you a few minutes ago and the kid answered and then went away and didn't come back.
Oh, gee, the phone.
I forgot. Mom, Mrs. Gilbert.
What's it all about?
What's what all about, officer?
Mrs. Gilbert says there's a light or a glow or something over here.
Well, I don't know. You got a thing that glows here?
I couldn't figure out what she was trying to say.
Nothing wrong here, is there, Betts?
No. No, nothing.
Beats me.
Well, Mrs. Gilbert is kind of nervous in storms. You know how it is.
Dad, aren't you going to tell us?
Son, you better get your hands washed for supper.
Supper time, isn't it, dear?
Heavens, yes. And everything will be all right.
Yes. I'm sorry you had the trip for nothing, officer.
Well, now, I'm glad everything's all right.
Maybe we better take a look out back just to be on the safe side, huh?
Why? I was just out there. It's fine.
All the same. Can't take chances, you know.
Back door through here.
Now, listen. This is my house.
A man's house is his castle.
If anything were wrong, I wouldn't be telling you everything's okay, would I?
We'll just take a minute.
Dinner's ready, dear.
Well, you go ahead, folks. I'll take a...
Holy...
What's that?
What?
That.
I don't see anything.
What do you got out there? Something on fire?
Oh, that. Oh, nothing. Just a lighting arrangement.
Kind of pretty, don't you think?
Lighting? That's no lighting.
Both of you stay here. No funny business.
I'm going to take a look.
The officer took a look.
Didn't believe what he saw.
Took another look, and the secret was out.
He put in a call for the riot squad and waited.
Henry thought for a while.
Then a slow anger grew in him.
It was his flying saucer, Betsy's flying saucer.
It belonged to the Doyles.
More than that, he knew it was his one chance for fame.
To offset the dull obscurity of his daily life.
Henry Doyle objected, and because she loved her husband, Betsy objected.
You have no right to do this, officer.
You're trespassing on my property and you haven't got a warrant.
There's no good saying, my husband is right.
That saucer is mine. It's on my land.
My land is paid for. It belongs to me.
Disturbing a piece.
Disturbing you. It isn't disturbing us.
It isn't disturbing anybody. It's just sitting.
Well, there's enemies inside.
Who said they were enemies?
Well, it's a fake.
You just said it was full of enemies.
Now, look, lady.
This thing's got me real upset.
I don't know what I'm saying.
I'm scared if you want to know, but I'm a police officer and I got a job to do.
And I'm staying here until I'm told otherwise.
The riot squad came.
The sergeant, followed by the inspector, followed by the chief of police.
Henry Doyle said, this is my house.
My property. My flying saucer.
You have no warrant. Get out of my house.
Get off my property.
Betsy agreed with every word.
Then the FBI came, followed by some extremely important gentlemen in uniform.
Henry was not impressed.
I don't care what you say.
In the morning, I'm going to see a lawyer.
No, no, I'm going to get the federal district attorney.
A man's house is his castle.
You're all trespassing.
Now, listen, Mr. Doyle.
No, you listen, General. Sure.
I know. You're real interested in my saucer.
Of course, one of you is.
When a few other fellows like me were trying to convince you they existed,
you laughed at us.
Well, now I'm laughing. Ha ha.
My wife's laughing too.
It's in our backyard. It stays there.
Have you any idea what kind of beings are in it?
Did you ever stop to consider that they may be hostile to the earth?
Well, that's my tough luck, not yours.
It's my bit of earth.
You're not going to touch that saucer.
Right. A man's home is his castle.
Right.
Castle.
The next morning, Henry Doyle proved it.
He conferred with the U.S. district attorney,
who in turn conferred with Washington.
And the upshot of all this was...
The object now resting in the backyard of Mr. Henry Doyle is,
until proved a menace to public welfare or hostile to these United States,
his property and shall remain in violet.
His property and shall remain in violet.
The Army didn't agree.
Neither did the police or any other law enforcement agency.
A battery of heavy guns, eight tanks, a machine gun unit,
two flamethrowers, as well as a picked company of commandos
were brought to the scene.
The army was not afraid to take advantage of the situation.
As a picked company of commandos were brought to the scene.
The road was blocked off and the siege of the Doyle's residence began.
Five days later, the saucer lay still glowing quietly
and Mr. and Mrs. Doyle stood by the incinerator watching it.
Betsy surmised...
If they're afraid of us, you'd think they'd try and get away.
Well, maybe they're biding their time.
Must all be as strange to them as it is to us.
Fine welcome they must think they're getting.
That is, if they've got some kind of instrument inside
that can see what's out on the road.
You know, I still can't understand
how the people inside the saucer get out.
It's funny, I've been over the thing a dozen times.
There isn't even a seam I can see.
Do you think maybe we ought to let those scientists take a look at it?
They can't hurt us?
Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Now don't you start.
This is ours. You let one of those fellas get a hand on it
and the next thing you know we won't have our flying saucer anymore.
No, no.
Dad!
What is it, son?
Here's about 40 men at the front door.
They're from newspapers. They want to talk to you.
Oh. All right. Tell them to wait. I'll be there in a minute.
Okay, Dad.
Oh, Henry. It is wonderful, isn't it?
Nothing like this has ever happened to us.
I never thought it would.
You know, old catacomb at the bank called me yesterday.
Offered me the vice presidency.
No!
Yeah. I didn't tell you because that's nothing to what offers we'll get.
Honey, this is our big moment.
It's our big moment in history. History, Betts.
I'm not going to let this get away from us.
I've waited all my life for it.
What are you going to tell the newspaper men?
Whatever they want to know.
Come on. We'll see them together.
Gentlemen, gentlemen, gentlemen, gentlemen.
Now, now, now, gentlemen, you, uh, you've asked my opinion of the object.
Do I think it is a ship from out of space?
Gentlemen, my answer is yes.
In due time, as soon as the government and I come to terms
and that ridiculous show of force outside my house is withdrawn,
you will be allowed to see the thing and to take your pictures.
Gentlemen, that's all I can say for the moment.
I know you'll excuse me. There are many things to attend to.
Oh, Henry, Henry, you're wonderful.
You sounded just like a senator, even a president.
Oh, no, no.
I'm still plain old Henry Doyle, your loving husband,
whose home is his castle.
A senatorial committee came to investigate.
Henry was polite, allowed them to see his saucer, but no more.
And the word spread until there wasn't a corner of the globe
that didn't know about Henry Doyle and his flying saucer.
A week later, the Supreme Court was in session
debating the district attorney's decision.
The country was divided.
Half said the saucer belonged to Henry.
The other half thought it was a shame.
They never quite made clear what the shame was, but it was.
The Doyles never budged.
But it was the small Doyle, Dickey, who one evening,
three weeks after the thing had landed,
noticed what was taking place in the backyard.
Dad, Mom, the saucer.
What about it?
Something's happening to it.
What?
The light's going out.
Oh, that's silly.
It can't be.
It is.
He's right.
It's not as bright as it was.
You can almost see it getting dimmer.
What do you think's happening?
I don't know.
Maybe they're going to come out now.
I don't know.
Henry, I'm afraid.
Oh, no.
No, you don't have to be.
Something's wrong with it.
I can feel it.
Oh, now that's silly.
It's the people inside I'm worried about.
Maybe it's the power supply or their own special air...
I'm afraid.
It's getting dark awful quickly, Dad.
We've got to do something.
What?
Maybe the scientists.
Yeah, that's it.
The scientists.
You go and call them.
They're at the Grand Hotel.
All of them.
Hurry, Betsy.
The scientists came.
Grave and wise, they rapped on the thing,
listened with super stethoscopes,
took readings on wonderful electronic devices,
and shook their heads.
That night at exactly 11.04 p.m.,
the glow went out.
And as it did so, the saucer began to shrivel,
grew smaller and smaller.
The group watched silently.
Can't somebody help?
It's just melting away.
What can you do?
It's dying.
Henry, it's dying.
We've got to help.
I don't know.
If we could get a sample of the substance,
but we can't make it disappear.
Oh, I won't have you banging on it like that when it's dying.
Stop it. Stop it.
Honey, Betsy.
I mean it. Let it alone.
It's no use anyway.
It'll be gone soon.
You can stop.
It isn't any good.
It was alive, Henry.
It was alive.
Honey, no.
No, there were people in it.
People from another planet.
They couldn't live on Earth.
That's all they could care.
No, no, no, you're wrong.
I feel as if I've lost.
I don't know, like losing Dickie.
I tell you, it was alive.
There wasn't anyone inside.
That's it.
That thing is all of it.
You're tired, Mrs. Doyle.
Why don't you go inside?
Oh, you're fools.
A woman knows.
It was an animal or maybe like us,
only made differently.
It was alive.
And now it's dying.
It's dying.
It's almost gone.
Yes.
It's too bad we couldn't have examined it earlier.
Dad, listen.
It's gone.
Yes.
Did you hear that sound?
Yes.
Almost like a voice, sighing.
I wonder.
On the spot where the thing had rested,
there was nothing, not a fragment.
And although they didn't know why,
the scientists and Henry Doyle stood for five minutes,
just looking.
Nobody spoke a word.
And there was a great quiet,
a sadness in the air.
I feel sad.
Strange.
I do too.
Dad, why are you crying?
Am I?
That's funny.
Mom was crying too.
What's happened?
They all went away, silently.
The scientists, the guns and tanks,
the soldiers and police,
and finally, only the Doyles were left in their house,
which was their castle.
Do you really think it was alive?
Yes.
I think it was hurt and fell down.
We didn't understand.
If I hadn't been so selfish, wanting to keep it to myself,
we might have saved it.
No.
No, it's probably better this way.
You know, everybody felt what you felt.
Sad.
Even the general and the scientists.
I wonder what it was.
Where it came from.
Somewhere up there.
Perhaps one day, another will come.
Suspense.
In which Trude Marsen and Hiavrabach starred in tonight's presentation of Heavens to Betsy.
Be sure to be listening for next week's presentation of radio's outstanding theater of thrills,
Suspense.
Suspense is produced and transcribed by Anthony Ellis, who wrote tonight's script.
The music was composed by Rene Garaghan and conducted by Wilbur Hatch.
Featured in the cast were John Danaer, Victor Perrin, Byron Cain, Richard Beals, Virginia Eiler, Barney Phillips, and Howard McNeer.
Dr. Jim Brandt, a young, skillful doctor, shows determination, but little talent, in caring for his family after the death of his wife.
The problems that beset him on his road of life are yours to listen to Monday through Friday in the daytime on most of these same stations.
It's Road of Life, another great daytime dramatic program in the family of daytime shows, millions here every day at the Star's Address.
On CBS Radio tomorrow, the Road of Life continues.