And now, tonight's presentation of radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense.
Tonight, Suspense is dedicated to the crusade for freedom. It is a true story in which it has
been necessary to change the names of all principal participants in order that their
survivors still imprisoned may live. So now, starring Charlotte Lawrence and Sam Edwards,
here is tonight's Suspense play, Listen Young Lovers. It was in Czechoslovakia a year ago,
a high vaulted room in a prison's turret, the city of Prague. There was a boy named
Yenrik and he was 21. And until this morning, he'd been a student at the communist controlled
university. Now he faced his inquisitors. Go to the window, Yenrik. Go on, Yenrik, go to the window.
Now down there, do you see the automobiles? The automobiles. Do you see them? Yenrik? Yenrik?
Yes, yes, I see them. And the people? Yes. And the building of the Ministry of War? Yes. Therefore,
they exist because you see them. You understand, Yenrik? Please. Yes, what is it? Comrades. Of
course we are all comrades, Yenrik. This comrade, for example. Yes. You see his medals. Certainly,
because they exist. And his sword. Yes. His head. Yes. His mind. Comrade, his mind. Or this comrade's
mind. Or this... Oh, you should not have hit Yenrik, comrade. Comrade Steffen. Yes. And why does he look
out the window now? What is he searching for? Shall we have you shot, Yenrik? Or is expulsion
enough? What do you think, comrades? Shoot him. What was the book you were caught with, Yenrik?
Varieties of religious experiences by Henry James. Western philosophy. Have him shot. Shoot him. Have
him shot. Blood and blood and blood. Yenrik. Yes. To kill you would be to fail. You are clever. You
think. Therefore, if you are clever for us, thought for us, we could win. Therefore... Did either of you
comrades have a thing to say? Good. Therefore, Yenrik, for us to win you, the West will have
lost you. Therefore, a victory for us for communism. So go home. Go home and purge your mind. In about a
day, I think, come to me and say to me, I am ready. Teach me to think. Teach me what you want me to
know. Go home, Yenrik. And for this they expelled you? For daring to read, for daring to think, to taste
of a knowledge that... For this, Melada. But you are a student. Student and violator. Scholar and
heretic. Sinner who stood before his inquisitors and... You should have seen their faces, Melada. No.
No. Not gentle Melada. No beautiful Melada. No child Melada. Yenrik. Yes. This that they have done to
you. Yes. After it will come arrest and torture and imprisonment and the labor camp. Melada. And death.
As it came to Miklos, who was also a student, who also read of alien philosophies, who also...
Melada....took it of death. Death. Stop it. It will not be so. It will not. You must go away from here.
I will not leave you, Melada. You must. You must. Listen to me. Only to my voice and to nothing else.
Not to fear, nor to horror, nor to the madness around us. Only to me.
I love you and I will not go from you. And we will marry as we had planned. When you finished your
studies. I will find something else to do here. Not a student, laborer then. Or shopkeeper or beggar.
There will be something else. We will make a life. Out of what? Out of terror, out of darkness, out of fear.
No more. We speak of it no more, Melada. What time is it? It is almost the hour. Turn on the radio then.
No more. Turn it lower.
No more. Ginric. Yes. Come here to me. Close to me.
Sit with me. Watch the fall of night. And hold me. Melada. Gentle Melada.
This is the voice of free Czechoslovakia.
And the voice of radio free Europe. Bringing you the news of the free world. Bringing you the
knowledge that you are not forgotten. And the hope of your future liberation. The voice now of free
Czechoslovakia. This is password little garden. Dear mother, we know these are the worst times
you have ever lived through. But you must believe that one day we will see you again.
This is password Hefajstos. Calling my friends from the Krumlov area.
The border crossing was hard and exhausting, but it was a success. Now I am well and I see true freedom.
Tonight as we promised we are going to tell you about the free Europe college in Strasbourg.
Like radio free Europe the college is maintained by the voluntary contributions of the American
people. It is for students who have escaped from the Soviet orbit. From Soviet tyranny.
From Soviet terror. You hear, Heinrich? You hear what they say?
For students who have come to Germany. Yes.
Where they have found a climate of freedom and of learning.
Heinrich, why have you turned it off for us? I thought I heard a step on the stairs in the hall.
Yes, I did hear. Turn on the light, Melada. Quickly.
Perhaps it is only the man who lives...
Steppen. A comrade Steppen who was walking the streets in loneliness and in regret
and who thought to call on a friend. On a comrade. May I? Come in.
You know, Melada. Of course. You brought her once to the university and her
sweet young face made such an impression amongst us. We talked of it. Of you. Of your lovely fiancée,
Melada. Why are you here? I told you. It was a night of loneliness and of regret.
Oh, how harsh we were with him, Melada. With your love. How almost brutal. What savage blows
we struck against his sensitive brain. And I became concerned for him. I became...
But sure, young man. A man of intellect, of perception. And see him. See his face.
How he knows I lie. How he knows I have no concern for him, nor pity, nor rage.
But you, Melada, you have such emotions for him. And love also. Then tell him. Convince him.
Take his hand. And lead him back to us with your young love. For this, that one day and soon,
your gentle arms will not have to cradle his corpse. Tomorrow, Yinnrik, and we will welcome
you back with such warmth and joy. Good night, Yinnrik. Melada.
Yinnrik. Yinnrik. Yes? What was said on the radio. The free Europe college in Strasbourg.
For those who escape. I cannot. You must. You will. Not without you. Then with me. If not alone,
with me. It is 300 miles. 300 miles of guards and border patrols. Informers and dogs. Wilderness.
Hunger. Hiding. With me. With me. Yinnrik. Yes. Yes, but it must be now. Immediately now.
Get your coat. A scarf for your hair. If you have candy bars. Yes. Quickly, Melada. Quick.
Yes, yes. My scarf. My coat. Candy bars. And this. Take it, Yinnrik. What is it? The same that I have
for myself. A small bottle of liquid. Of poison that is kept here for insects and vermin. Melada.
If we are caught, we will drink it. Together we will drink it. And this way they will never separate us.
This way we need never leave each other. Yes.
A thing they had talked about for a long time now decided. But how to get to freedom.
No passports so they dare not trust trains nor other public conveyances.
Nothing but their feet to carry them. Two sweethearts out for a casual stroll.
So they walked. Prague to Klodno. Across the Vlataava River swollen by spring rains.
To Kraslice. And close to the border now. Lonely paths through the mountain roads and across fields
to the young lovers almost a pleasant adventure. Almost. Run. Run.
Quickly. Yinn.
I'm so tired. I'm so tired. Don't worry. I'm going to get you some water.
I'm so tired. I'm so tired. Don't talk. See. There near the wall. The straw. We will rest.
Now go home. Back to the house son. When the colt will be born I will call you and you will name it.
No move.
Not yet friend of mine. Since what shall we name your colt? My son wants to know.
Lute Miller. And if a salient shall we name him? Out. Out. Or with this pitchfork.
Let me look at you. Step closer to the light.
Two of you. Two of you now. We're not thieves. No. Truly we're not thieves. Then what? Hikers.
Throw down your papers then so I'll know it. Well. There are no papers. Refugees. Yes. From what?
Terror. The government of Czechoslovakia. Yes. I throw down the pitchfork for whatever
symbol you wish to make of it. I am your friend. Oh great. Hush. Hush. Now listen to me. Yes. Sleep.
And at dawn I'll wake you with directions to the border which is nearby. And there is a guard I
know who is there. And I will send you to him and he is a friend. And he will show you how to get
into Germany. I envy your courage.
Halt. Raise your arms over your heads. Jindrik. Do not fear. You are Radik? The guard? I am Radik.
Come forward. And you are the two who slept in my friend's barn. The pretty young girl and her young
man. The refugees. And you are the two who slept in my friend's barn. The pretty young girl and her
young man. The refugees. Yes. He said you would be our friend. Radik. Show us how we could get into
Germany. And for this we are. You are what? Grateful. Because he was kind. As you are kind.
And the final act of kindness. You are under arrest. No. Yes. I say it. You are under arrest.
You are listening to Listen Young Lovers. Tonight's presentation in radio's outstanding
theater of thrills, Suspense.
For 70 million captive people in Soviet satellite Europe, the only source of truth is news from the
outside world. The powerful, dependable, truthful broadcasts of Radio Free Europe keep this lifeline
open. Sponsor a minute of truth behind the Iron Curtain. Radio Free Europe broadcasts up to 20
hours of truth a day to Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary, and Poland. 70 million people
in the Soviet satellite countries who want new and love freedom are depending on you. Send your
truth dollars to Crusade for Freedom in care of your local postmaster. Remember, truth is what the
Kremlin fears most. Help wield the free world's strongest weapon. And now we bring back to our
Hollywood sound stage Sam Edwards and Charlotte Lawrence starring in tonight's production Listen
Young Lovers, a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense. Betrayal, escape to freedom,
which was a thing of loneliness and of sobbing and of storm, halted now and betrayed, made futile by
a man who had given them a night's sleep in his barn and spoke gently of refugees and of courage
and of help to be had from his friend the guard. And while they slept, informed to the man of the
automatic rifle who stood guard on the Czech-German border who was communist, who was called Radik.
Lambs, lost little lambs to have huddled in his barn from the storm, to have believed in such as
him, to come so innocent of the slaughter, to Radik. And you would kill? You, if you try something.
Her, her with a pretty young face, not her perhaps if a tear fell on such soft cheek. Come, move, move.
Where do you take us? To the hut there, where there is phone.
Where I call the proper authorities, tell them Radik has snared two more. Radik, Radik.
How you say my name and without fright. The thing you said. What thing? That you would kill him.
If he wants it, if he must pretend to you he is a hero. He is no hero. He is a hero.
If he must pretend to you he is a hero. He is no hero. Good. Not a hero. Something else.
Milana. Something else you are. Coward and traitor. Student who is superior to all around him.
And arrogant and looks down upon those around him. Upon you little one. Upon such prettiness as you.
You pretty one. Unrich. Run Milana, run.
The trick and run. Run across the border into eastern Germany and keep running. And behind them
the shouts of clamor and the braying of dogs. And like animals hide, run again into darkness.
And under the shield of night, exhausted sleep.
Dawn then and the highlands of eastern Germany to walk. And the forests of Bomerwald.
Dangerous to walk the roads because they spoke no German. Therefore easily recognized as foreigners.
Easily arrested. And not dare ask for food. But walk where wilderness is.
Wander the bogs of Turin-Gerwald and dig for food.
Unrich, I have found another. Good. We will have a feast. Here Milana, under the tree.
Shelter, warmth, food and with my love. What more to ask? Freedom. Eat. I do not want to eat.
You must. These berries and garnished with roots. And after we will hunt for...
Quite close to the ground. Very close and do not have a sound. Breathe into the earth.
Ah, carnations. Little wild carnations from the forest.
And I am the hunter and I have found you. And caught. Stand up. Up. And I kill you.
We are refugees. We are not dangerous.
He does not understand us, Milana. And he looks as if you are mad. But his pistol, he holds it so close to your face. He will kill you. He will.
I have watched you from the forest. What? I do not... They are just...
Eating so hungry. He is hungry. The signs he makes. Give them to him. Give him the roots and the berries.
Take them. No. Please take them. No. You are hungry. Take them. We will hunt for food.
Thank you. Thank you.
By now they had lost all track of time. Some days they covered as much as 10 or 15 miles.
Other days they knew they were lost. They were lost. They were lost. They were lost.
And always there was the hunger. And always the feeling somehow that the trip would never end.
I can't. Go on. I can't. I can't. Milana. I can't. Milana. You go. You can make it.
No. No. Listen. What? Listen. Can you hear it? A car. We must be near a highway.
We will ask someone for a ride. Yes. No. But we... No. Suppose it is a communist who stops for us.
Immediately there will be questions and... And there are all sorts of questions.
The bottles of poison. We will die together and that will be our victory. Yes. Then come.
Yannick. Yes. Pray. Yes. Was there ever such a prayer that a vehicle should come by?
That the driver of the vehicle be not a communist? That the driver be not a communist?
That the driver be not a communist? Please. Will you give us a ride? Nein. We don't speak German. We're Czech.
You're under children. Get into the wagon. Quickly. The car is coming. Get down on the floor.
The car approaching has a spotlight. It's a patrol car. Quickly. Quickly.
Do you see it? The bridge? Yes. Now is the best time to cross it. Dawn. We don't know how to thank you.
Driving all night. Oh no. It is I who should thank you. To give me the opportunity to help hinder whatever flame of protest.
Now listen children. Take advantage of the trees along the road. Go from one to the other. Then the bridge.
Then the American zone. And then freedom. God bless you both and be at your side. Quickly now. Across the road.
Now. As the woman said. From tree to tree. Yes. All right. Yes. Now.
Look. Look at the bridge. Guards. Two guards. Russians. Walking their posts. And across the bridge is freedom.
Across the bridge is life. Yes. While the guards are walking away. Yes.
Milada. Get up quickly before the guards see us. My ankle. I'll help you. Arm around my shoulder.
I can't. I must have broken it. The Russian guards. They've seen us. Yenrik. Run. Run. Not without you.
Leave me. Leave me. I will drink of mine. No separation. No torture. Yes. And I will drink of mine.
We are the Soviet. We'll jump you some noise. Hey. Hey what's happened here. What's the matter.
Too young people. Too much whiskey. What do you think Sarge. They're on our side of the bridge. Please. We'll take care of them.
But they are our people. Our side of the bridge. See the marker. Our side. You help the girl Nolan. I'll take care of the guy.
But I. Get off Jack. Our side of the bridge. They belong to us. What's the matter sis. Too much of the booze. Poison.
What. Poison. Yeah. Poison she said. Yeah. The guy too. Come on. Let's get a move on.
Radio Free Europe brought to you by your friends in America. The voice now of free Czechoslovakia.
This is password Greenbauer calling our friends in the area of Prague. My friend and I have married.
We attend now the free Europe college in Strasbourg. Students who escaped the Russian orbit are welcome here.
We wait for you with open arms. There is freedom here and the teaching of ideas.
Free ideas for which millions have been and are still ready to die. I hold out my hand to all of you.
And this is password Traviata calling Yelava region. Greetings and remembrances to all our dear friends.
We wait for you. We greet you from a free world.
Suspense. In which Charlotte Lawrence and Sam Edwards starred in tonight's presentation of Listen Young Lovers.
Next week a story of a ghost town and a practical joke that wasn't. We call it Hollywood hostages.
That's next week on Suspense.
Suspense is produced and directed in Hollywood by Anthony Ellis. Listen Young Lovers was adapted for suspense by Morton Fine and David Friedkin from the report of David Camelan.
The music was composed by Lucian Moroweck and Renee Gerrigang and conducted by Wilbur Hatch.
Featured in the cast were Edith Ann Gold, Victor Perrin, Frank Goss, Joseph Kearns, Jim Nusser, Herb Butterfield, Lou Merrill, Jack Crouchon, Leonard Weinrib and Joe Cranston.
You can find in your favorite newspaper full factual accounts of happenings from all over the world.
But no such service waits for the 70 million captive people behind the iron curtain.
Their papers like their rulers are puppets, top heavy with red propaganda and distortions.
To learn the truth, these people look to free Europe press coming in by balloon from the outside world.
You can help spread this truth and help these captive millions who want new freedom.
Send your truth dollars for free Europe press to Crusade for Freedom in care of your local postmaster.
Stay tuned for five minutes of CBS News to be followed on most of these same stations by the Jack Carson Show.
The Radio Workshop presents the new and unusual Friday nights on the CBS Radio Network.