Favorite Story 46-11-05 Ep021 From The Earth To The Moon

Summary

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Podcast Summary

Podcast: Harold's Old Time Radio

Episode: Favorite Story 46-11-05 Ep021 From The Earth To The Moon
Host/Presenter: Carveth Wells (Guest), Bullocks Store Announcer
Original Radio Air Date: November 5, 1946 (Rebroadcast date: September 26, 2025)
Story by: Jules Verne, adapted for radio
Featured Cast: William Conrad as E.J. Barbicane, George Sorrell, Jeff Corey, Byron Cain, Thelma Hubbard, Don Diamond, Bill Pannell, George Barkley (announcer), True Boardman (director)

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Episode Overview

This episode features a radio adaptation of Jules Verne’s classic science fiction tale From the Earth to the Moon as Carveth Wells' selected "favorite story." The story is dramatized with a mixture of the original 19th-century vision and updates reflecting mid-20th-century language and science. The narrative follows E.J. Barbicane and his companions as they embark on an ambitious project to launch a projectile to the moon, spurred on by human curiosity, scientific drive, and the spirit of exploration.

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Key Discussion Points & Plot Summary

1. Opening and Framing (01:01 - 02:57)

• Carveth Wells selects From the Earth to the Moon as his "favorite story," noting its imaginative leap beyond earthly travels.
• The announcer sets the stage for a modernized adaptation of Jules Verne’s original story, highlighting Verne’s forward-thinking vision.

2. Introducing the Barbicane Project (02:57 - 07:02)

• Cerise Barbicane reflects on a poem by Walt Whitman about the stars, threading poetic wonder into the technical plot.
• E.J. Barbicane confides in his daughter Cerise about his bold plan: to build and launch a rocket toward the moon.
  • “So near that your old father can reach out and touch it. Do you think I'm crazy?” (04:00)
• Barbicane’s colleagues are skeptical:
  • “Now comes the big chance. A chance to build something instead of blowing up something.” (05:36)
• Michel Ardan, a French adventurer, calls from Paris and demands that the projectile be modified to carry a human—himself.
  • “Because I, Michel Ardan, am going inside.” (07:03)

3. Preparations and Philosophical Debates (07:20 - 10:28)

• The team discusses the technical challenges: required velocity, dangers, and the practicality of manned space flight (08:22 - 09:12).
• Michel Ardan insists on being the first man to travel between worlds, casting himself as an explorer of the “Sea of Sky.”
  • “I would be remembered as the Columbus of the interstellar space. The first man in history to bridge the vastness of the Sea of Sky.” (09:13)
• Cerise stands up for Michel's adventurous spirit, paralleling her father's own ambitions (09:44 - 10:02).

4. The Launch to the Moon (10:49 - 13:14)

• The public gathers at the launch site; technical and emotional farewells are exchanged.
  • “Come, Michel. To new frontiers.” “To new frontiers.” (12:15-12:17)
• Barbicane reveals that he, too, will join Michel on the journey (11:48-11:53).
• Tense countdown and rocket launch, with attention to scientific realism and human risk.

5. Aftermath on Earth (13:02 - 14:14)

• Those left behind reflect on the possible fates of the travelers:
  • “They’re on a one way ticket. They'll never come back.” (13:24)
  • Cerise expresses steadfast faith in their return: “But we will. If I hadn't been sure of that, I never would have encouraged them to go.” (13:45)

6. Act Two – Voyage Through Space (17:12 - 26:26)

• Barbicane and Michel face technical issues (radio loss, rationing oxygen, eating space food), contemplate the altered perception of time, and experience zero gravity.
  • “Time gets twisted out here in space, Michel. Aren't you acquainted with Einstein?” (17:49)
• They marvel at astronomical phenomena: black sky, new Earth, phases of the moon (18:47 - 19:17).
• On the ground, Cerise’s intuition continues to defy the grim facts (20:07).
• A brush with a meteor nearly destroys the rocket (22:46-23:16), and the craft is knocked off-course — raising fears it may orbit the moon forever.
  • “You and I in this rocket may become a moon.”—Barbicane (25:47)
  • “A moon of the moon.” (25:58)

7. Climax and Resolution (26:26 - 28:40)

• Scientists on Earth (Captain Nicholl and Marston) trace the projectile’s path and deduce it will fall back to Earth.
  • “The projectile is moving in an open curve...it will fall back into the Earth's atmosphere before the end of the week.” (26:53)
• Dramatic news bulletins narrate the safe recovery of the travelers from the Pacific Ocean (27:16).
• Michel Ardan narrates their accomplishment:
  • “We are qualified to speak of the moon's other face because we have seen it. We have photographed it and mapped it. We have brought this hidden world into a scorpion scope of men's knowledge.” (28:08)

8. Coda: Poetic Reflections and Reunion (28:40 - 29:30)

• The episode ends with Cerise repeating the earlier Whitman poem, now with Michel by her side, symbolizing hope, reunion, and the enduring lure of exploration.
  • “I just wandered off in the mystical moist night air. And from time to time. Yes, darling Looked up in perfect silence at the stars.” (29:03)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "A chance to build something instead of blowing up something." — E.J. Barbicane (05:36)
• "I would be remembered as the Columbus of interstellar space...The first man in history to bridge the vastness of the Sea of Sky." — Michel Ardan (09:13)
• "I've got to talk him out of this insane idea of traveling to the moon inside my projectile." — E.J. Barbicane, voicing 19th-century skepticism even amid progress (07:37)
• "Come, Michel. To new frontiers." "To new frontiers." — Barbicane and Michel, as they enter the rocket together (12:15-12:17)
• "Time gets twisted out here in space, Michel. Aren't you acquainted with Einstein?" — E.J. Barbicane, a nod to relativity and the modern updates in Verne’s tale (17:49)
• "We may be bound by Newton's law of gravity to revolve forever about the Moon, just as that moon revolves forever about the Earth." — E.J. Barbicane (25:58)
• "We are qualified to speak of the moon's other face because we have seen it." — Michel Ardan, upon their return (28:08)

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Important Segment Timestamps

• 01:01 – Carveth Wells introduces his favorite story and Jules Verne.
• 02:57 – Dramatic story begins (Cerise's poem, Barbicane's plans).
• 04:38 – Barbicane's public announcement of his moon project.
• 07:02 – Michel Ardan demands a manned mission.
• 10:49 – Launch preparations and emotional farewells.
• 12:20 – Countdown and rocket launch.
• 13:24 – Realization that it may be a one-way journey.
• 17:12 – Act two: Barbicane and Michel in space.
• 22:46 – Near collision with a meteor, knocked off course.
• 25:47 – The realization they may orbit the moon indefinitely.
• 26:53 – Scientists deduce the rocket’s trajectory will bring it home.
• 27:16 – News of the rocket’s splashdown and safe recovery.
• 28:08 – Michel’s summary of their achievement.
• 28:40 – Poetic reunion of Cerise and Michel.

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Tone and Style

The adaptation maintains Jules Verne’s sense of wonder and speculative optimism, blending early science fiction adventure with 1940s radio drama warmth and moral clarity. Light humor, scientific curiosity, and strong sentiment infuse the dialogue, especially between Barbicane, Cerise, and Michel. Poetic flourishes bookend the episode, underscoring the era's blend of scientific ambition and dreamy idealism.

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Conclusion

This episode delivers a brisk, warmly dramatized retelling of Verne’s From the Earth to the Moon—complete with technical marvel, human adventure, brushes with peril, and an optimistic ending. Through the voices of Barbicane, Michel, and Cerise, the show celebrates the enduring spirit of exploration and the belief that, with imagination and courage, humanity might one day touch the stars.

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Transcript

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[Carveth Wells]

We called on Mr. Carveth Wells, World traveler extraordinary. We asked him to select his favorite story for dramatization on this program. Well, he told us that his favorite actually had nothing to do with earthly travels at all. Its title, from the Earth to the Moon by the dean of all science fiction writers, Jules Verne. So for those of you who would like to travel a half million miles in the next half hour, here's Carbeth Wells. Favorite story.

[Bullocks Store Announcer]

Bullocks in downtown Los Angeles, one of America's great stores, proudly originates this radio program for the nation. Favorite story.

[Carveth Wells]

This is the program which stars the story, and that means our star this week is Jules Vernes from the Earth to the Moon.

[Bullocks Store Announcer]

The story you are about to hear was written more than a half century ago by a man whose mind belonged to the age of tomorrow. And so, while telling Jules Verne's tale basically as he wrote it, we're including a few modern phrases and present day devices which we're sure Verne himself would include if he were adapting his own story for radio today. So here is Carpethwell's favorite story. Act one.

[Cerise Barbicane]

When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture room. How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick, till rising and gliding out, I wandered off by myself in the mystical moist night air and from time to time looked up in perfect silence at the stars.

[E.J. Barbicane]

Cerise.

[Cerise Barbicane]

Yes, Father?

[E.J. Barbicane]

What's that a poem? A poem that doesn't rhyme?

[Cerise Barbicane]

Mr. Walt Whitman's poems very often don't rhyme.

[E.J. Barbicane]

Mr. Walt Whitman. Cerise, how did you happen to pick that poem?

[Cerise Barbicane]

Oh, I don't know. When I brought coffee to you and Mr. Maston and Captain Nicholl, you. You were talking about the moon. That may be what brought the poem to mind.

[E.J. Barbicane]

Cerise, my child, how far away do you think it is? The moon?

[Cerise Barbicane]

Oh, a million miles.

[E.J. Barbicane]

Much nearer. Much, much nearer. So near that your old father can reach out and touch it. Do you think I'm crazy?

[Cerise Barbicane]

No, Father.

[E.J. Barbicane]

Well, Nicol does. He thinks the war was too much for me and that I've worked too hard, that I'm going out of my senses. Well, when they learn tomorrow of the release I'm giving the press concerning a plan I have, a lot of people are going to agree with him.

[Narrator]

Baltimore, Maryland A rather startling news announcement has come from the office of Mr. E.J. barbicane, President of Barbicane Industries, one of America's foremost producers of war material. The entire production capacity of Barbicane Industries, ladies and gentlemen, will be devoted to the manufacture of an apparatus for sending a rocket propelled projectile into outer space to try to establish direct contact with the moon.

[E.J. Barbicane]

But what's the use of it? Barbara Kane, pouring $5 million into a completely profitless enterprise. Nickel. You're profit mad. That's the trouble with this country. We've lost the frontier spirit. After all, why not explore this moon of ours? It may turn out to hold more profit than you think. Nickel. Mineral wealth, perhaps. And there may be inhabitants of some sort who will exchange ideas with us. Who knows?

[Captain Nicholl]

Are you really serious?

[E.J. Barbicane]

Maston Nichol, you are two of my oldest friends. We went through college together. For years we've worked together to make Barbicane Industries one of the world's leading producers of guns and planes. Now comes the big chance. A chance to build something instead of blowing up something. And I want you with me on this. I need your enthusiasm and your brains.

[Captain Nicholl]

It's cockeyed, E.J. but I'm with you.

[E.J. Barbicane]

I'm not. You can't pull me into line with sentiment, Barbicane. I think you're moonstruck. And what's more, I'll bet you $5,000 your crazy projectile never gets outside the Earth's atmosphere. And I'll bet you 10,000 more that it never comes within a thousand miles of the moon. Nickel. It's a bet. Well, I. I hope I lose. But I won't. I hope you lose. Too, Captain. And I think you will, Father. Oh, yes, there is.

[Cerise Barbicane]

There's a phone call for you from Europe.

[E.J. Barbicane]

From Europe? Oh, well, I'll take it on this extension. Hello?

[Michel Ardan]

Hello, Monsieur Barbicane?

[E.J. Barbicane]

Yes, this is Barbicane speaking.

[Michel Ardan]

I am Michel Ardan. I am calling from Paris. Monsieur, have you completed your plans for your rocket to the moon?

[E.J. Barbicane]

I. No, the plans are not completed.

[Michel Ardan]

Good, good. You will have to revise them. Change all your blueprints. Make your project large enough to carry a human being.

[E.J. Barbicane]

Good Lord. Why?

[Michel Ardan]

Because I, Michel Ardan, am going inside.

[Narrator]

All nations airlines, incoming flight 72, the Paris Express. Now deplaning passengers at gate nine.

[Cerise Barbicane]

Do you think he'll be on this plane, Father?

[E.J. Barbicane]

Well, the airline people have him on the passenger list. Now, how the devil am I going to handle this fellow?

[Cerise Barbicane]

How do you mean, handle him, Cerise.

[E.J. Barbicane]

I've got to talk him out of this insane idea of traveling to the moon inside my projectile.

[Cerise Barbicane]

But why?

[E.J. Barbicane]

Well, it would be like. Like hitching a ride to a comet.

[Michel Ardan]

Ah, Monsieur Barbicane. I recognize you from your pictures.

[E.J. Barbicane]

Oh, yes. You're Ardan.

[Michel Ardan]

I am. It is so kind of you to meet me.

[E.J. Barbicane]

My pleasure. This is my daughter, Cerise.

[Michel Ardan]

My pleasure, mademoiselle.

[Cerise Barbicane]

How do you do?

[E.J. Barbicane]

Well, let's get underway. Get your bags, Ardain. I have a cab waiting to take you to town.

[Michel Ardan]

Only a cab? What a pity. I thought you would have a rocket waiting to take me immediately to the moon.

[Captain Nicholl]

Here is the plan. I've checked all our data with the head of Cambridge Observatory. He assures us that an initial velocity of 1200 yards per second will be enough to drive the projectile out of the Earth's gravitational field.

[E.J. Barbicane]

1200 yards per second. That's how many miles an hour?

[Captain Nicholl]

A little less than 2,500 miles an hour.

[Michel Ardan]

Ah, A good first clip. And will I arrive at the moon by Christmas?

[E.J. Barbicane]

The projectile will arrive in about four days.

[Captain Nicholl]

Considering the retarding action of the atmosphere, the projectile should strike the moon's surface at midnight of the 4th of December, after traveling 97 hours, 13 minutes and 20 seconds.

[Michel Ardan]

I wonder if the Selenides will be glad to see me.

[E.J. Barbicane]

The who?

[Michel Ardan]

The Selenides. The inhabitants of the moon.

[E.J. Barbicane]

There are no inhabitants of the Moon.

[Michel Ardan]

I do not believe it. And I'm going to find out.

[E.J. Barbicane]

Ardan, you're a fool. Time is short and I refuse to change my plans to let you commit suicide.

[Michel Ardan]

This is madness, Monsieur Barbicane. In another age, I should have been an explorer on this planet. A Columbus A Marquette? A Balboa, perhaps. Now, if one should seek a new horizon, he must leave this earth. You see, monsieur, I am in my own way a seeker for immortality. I would be remembered as the Columbus of the interstellar space. The first man in history to bridge the vastness of the Sea of Sky.

[E.J. Barbicane]

I tell you, it's fantastic. Fantastic, impossible and absurd.

[Cerise Barbicane]

Father.

[E.J. Barbicane]

Huh? Oh, hello, Cerise. I didn't know you were here.

[Cerise Barbicane]

I've been listening. Do you realize, Father, you sound just like Captain Nicholl?

[E.J. Barbicane]

What?

[Cerise Barbicane]

Well, that's the way he talks to you about your ideas. And if Michel wants to explore a new frontier, as you call it, why should you stand in his way?

[Michel Ardan]

Your daughter at least seems to understand, monsieur.

[E.J. Barbicane]

But the shock. No human being can stand such an impact.

[Michel Ardan]

Then you will find a way to cushion that impact. I cannot believe that the Barbie Kane who marshaled the industrial forces of America to win a war can be defeated by such a mere technicality.

[E.J. Barbicane]

How can you argue with a man like that?

[Cerise Barbicane]

Then you will let him go on the projectile?

[E.J. Barbicane]

Well, yes. On one condition.

[Michel Ardan]

And what is that, Monsieur?

[E.J. Barbicane]

I will let you know when the time comes.

[Narrator]

I'm sure you of the radio audience can hear in the background that voice on the public address system here at the launching platform. Only 100 seconds to the zero hour. The hour at which the intrepid young Frenchman Michel Ardan will be hurled into interplanetary space by Barbican's jet propelled rocket. There's a large crowd gathered here near the mouth of the huge gun which will fire this man carrying projectile to the moon. At least that's the hope of Barbican and the scientists.

[Cerise Barbicane]

Michelle. Michel, do be careful.

[Michel Ardan]

I have my vitamin. Darling. Yes, absolutely nothing to worry about.

[E.J. Barbicane]

Oh, darling, is it?

[Cerise Barbicane]

Michel and I have been getting acquainted these past few weeks.

[Captain Nicholl]

Michel, at the instant of fire, simply relax against the bulkhead. The hydraulic mechanism will absorb most of the shock.

[Michel Ardan]

I'll relax all right, Monsieur Meston. That's one thing I'm an expert at doing.

[E.J. Barbicane]

And Ardan, be sure to radio us when you leave the Earth's atmosphere.

[Michel Ardan]

Right, Captain.

[E.J. Barbicane]

That will be my signal to pay Barbicane $5,000 of the lost bet. Well, you'll have to pay it to Cerise, Captain. I won't be here to collect it.

[Cerise Barbicane]

Where will you be, Father?

[E.J. Barbicane]

With Michelle in the projectile.

[Cerise Barbicane]

You're both going?

[E.J. Barbicane]

Remember, I told Michelle he could go on one condition. And this is the conditions that I.

[Captain Nicholl]

You'd better take your place, gentlemen. Only 40 seconds.

[E.J. Barbicane]

Well, goodbye, old friends. Master Nicole. Goodbye, Ceres.

[Cerise Barbicane]

Goodbye, father.

[Michel Ardan]

Don't worry, Series. I'll take care of seconds.

[E.J. Barbicane]

Come, Michelle. To new frontiers.

[Michel Ardan]

To new frontiers.

[Narrator]

20 seconds.

[Carveth Wells]

2, 0.

[Narrator]

Clear the launching platform. Stand by. Stand by. Prepare for 1 3. 121 seconds. The crowd falls back. The moon bound rocket is about to take off. Six seconds. Five, four, three, two seconds. One second.

[Captain Nicholl]

Well, they're on their way.

[E.J. Barbicane]

It looks as if I've lost a bedmaster.

[Captain Nicholl]

I think you're going to lose another one too. I think they'll reach the moon.

[Cerise Barbicane]

And can you imagine how the world will welcome them when they get home?

[E.J. Barbicane]

When they get home?

[Cerise Barbicane]

Yes. How long do you suppose it'll be before they come back to the Earth? A week? 10 days?

[Captain Nicholl]

Come back? Didn't you know, Cerise? They're on a one way ticket. They'll never come back.

[Cerise Barbicane]

Oh, you're wrong. I know you're wrong.

[Captain Nicholl]

There is no launching platform on the moon. The fuel will be gone. No, Cerise. Resign yourself. We'll never see your father or Michelle again.

[Cerise Barbicane]

But we will. If I hadn't been sure of that, I never would have encouraged them to go. I know very little of science, Mr. Marston. But in my woman's heart, I'm sure beyond all doubt my father and Michelle will return to Earth and to me alive.

[Bullocks Store Announcer]

In a moment. Act two of favorite story Jules Burns from the Earth to the Moon Annoying, isn't it? The repeated ringing of your doorbell Bullocks asks you to imagine for a moment how annoying the sound would be if it were multiplied 152 times. 152 ringings of your doorbell. Each one heralding a solicitation from you for a worthwhile welfare or social agency. Each one well deserving of your attention. But instead of 152 ringings, you will hear only the one lone ring of your volunteer community chest worker. One call to do the job of 152Bullock's Downtown wishes to urge that you think carefully on the special importance of this neighbor's call. Remember that you and your neighbor, through the community chest are waging the greatest of all wars. The war against the ever present ravages of disease, delinquency, crime, poverty, divorce, hunger, physical and mental illness. Ruthless enemies that annually claim human tolls far in excess of the worst score of World War II. The fight against these evils is a constant one. It must be carried on every second of every minute of every day throughout the world. It is your fight to protect your family, your home, your community. You must do your share when this week you answer Your doorbell to the community chest. Bullock suggests you please consider carefully your responsibility and your opportunity. Remember that it is 152 calls in one and giving up now.

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[Bullocks Store Announcer]

Act two of Carpet Wells favorite story from the Earth to the Moon with William Conrad as. Barbicane.

[E.J. Barbicane]

Calling the Earth. Calling the Earth. Calling any radio stations on Earth. This is Barbicane. This is Barbicane and rocket projectile calling observatories on the Earth. Do you read our signal? Over.

[Michel Ardan]

No answer. What's wrong?

[E.J. Barbicane]

I don't know, Michel. Our radio equipment must have been shaken up in the launching. They can't hear us. We can't hear them.

[Michel Ardan]

Do you feel all right?

[E.J. Barbicane]

I think so.

[Michel Ardan]

How long were we unconscious after the takeoff?

[E.J. Barbicane]

About two hours. Earth hours, that is.

[Michel Ardan]

What do you mean, monsieur? Earth hours?

[E.J. Barbicane]

Time gets twisted out here in space, Michel. And an hour is a much different length of time when we're traveling at this enormous rate of speed. Aren't you acquainted with Einstein?

[Michel Ardan]

Glad to say, monsieur, we have never been introduced. All I know is that my Earth appetite tells me I'd like something to eat.

[E.J. Barbicane]

Oh, well, there are some high nourishment food capsules here in the locker. I'll have them ready for us in a moment. You just relax and pretend you're at home in your own sitting room in Paris.

[Michel Ardan]

Whatever you say, Monsieur Barbicane. You know.

[E.J. Barbicane]

Good Lord, man, put out that cigarette. We've barely enough oxygen to Sustain life for a week without wasting it by burning tobacco.

[Michel Ardan]

You are right, of course.

[E.J. Barbicane]

Here's your dinner.

[Michel Ardan]

Is this all one little cup full of brown water?

[E.J. Barbicane]

That contains more nutrition than many a six course dinner, Monsieur. Enough energy to keep you going until daylight.

[Michel Ardan]

Monsieur Barbicane. It's daylight now. There's the sun.

[E.J. Barbicane]

Well, I didn't expect we'd be out of the Earth's shadow so soon.

[Michel Ardan]

Hmm, that's strange. The sun is up, but the sky is still black.

[E.J. Barbicane]

Out here in space, there is no atmosphere to scatter it in the blue.

[Michel Ardan]

It's odd seeing the sun and the stars at the same time. And the moon too. A full moon.

[E.J. Barbicane]

The moon may be full, but to us, my friend, the Earth is new.

[Michel Ardan]

What do you mean?

[E.J. Barbicane]

Look behind us. You see that long, thin crescent in the sky?

[Michel Ardan]

Sacre sieur. It fills up half the sky.

[E.J. Barbicane]

That's sunrise on our Earth. From where we're watching, the world is in its first quarter.

[Michel Ardan]

How far away is it now at the Earth?

[E.J. Barbicane]

A radius perhaps 4,000 miles. Farther away than man has ever traveled from the sordid soil of our planet.

[Michel Ardan]

Yes, and growing farther away every instant. Farther away from her.

[Cerise Barbicane]

Captain Nicholl. Mr. Marston. Is there no word at all?

[Captain Nicholl]

None, Cerise. None of the reports at this observatory or any of the others have revealed the least sign of the rocket.

[E.J. Barbicane]

And all efforts at radio contact have failed.

[Captain Nicholl]

I'm afraid, Cerise, that we must face the facts.

[Cerise Barbicane]

No. They're alive. I. I'm absolutely certain. Others?

[E.J. Barbicane]

How do you know, Ceres?

[Cerise Barbicane]

I told you before, a woman knows things. And I tell you my father and Michel are both alive.

[Michel Ardan]

Ah, the heat, Monsieur Barbicane. The heat. The heat in this rocket is almost unbearable.

[E.J. Barbicane]

I must make a note of that. Next projectile should be painted lighter color to reflect more of solar rays.

[Michel Ardan]

What good is it, Monsieur, to keep making notes? Who will ever read them?

[E.J. Barbicane]

On his way back from the South Pole, Scott kept writing until the hour of his death. And others found his words and profited by them. Others will come. This again.

[Michel Ardan]

Michelle, Are we halfway there by now?

[E.J. Barbicane]

We're more than halfway. According to my calculations, within a few moments we will be at the midpoint between the gravitational fields of the Earth and the Moon. In other words, we'll soon cease flying away from the Earth and start falling toward the Moon.

[Michel Ardan]

Then it calls for a celebration, doesn't it? We have a bottle of wine here. Let's open it and celebrate our arrival in the lunar sphere of influence.

[E.J. Barbicane]

Very well. Here are the wine glasses.

[Michel Ardan]

Possible the Glass just hangs in the air. How do you do that?

[E.J. Barbicane]

Quite a trick, isn't it?

[Michel Ardan]

Is it magic?

[E.J. Barbicane]

You can do the same thing, Michel. There's no gravity. We're passing the point where the Earth's attraction cancels out that of the moon and vice versa. In other words, nothing weighs anything and everything weighs nothing.

[Michel Ardan]

I need a drink.

[E.J. Barbicane]

Now.

[Michel Ardan]

What's wrong? Your wine won't pour.

[E.J. Barbicane]

Why should it? Shake it, Michel. That will force the liquid out.

[Michel Ardan]

The wine just hanging in the air like a. Like a blob of jelly.

[E.J. Barbicane]

Oh, this is sloppy, Michel. We'll have to push the wine into the glasses with our fingers, I guess.

[Michel Ardan]

Like this, Monsieur Barbicane. I never realized that. What a convenience. Gravitation is.

[E.J. Barbicane]

A toast then. To gravitation.

[Michel Ardan]

To gravitation. Listen. What's that?

[E.J. Barbicane]

Sounds like air escaping. Now. Our pressure's still normal.

[Michel Ardan]

Bobby, came on. You look out of this window.

[E.J. Barbicane]

A mountain of rock.

[Michel Ardan]

It's coming straight toward us. Can we steer out of the way?

[E.J. Barbicane]

With what, my boy? There's nothing to steer with. We can't push against ether. No, Michel, all we can do is push. It misses us.

[Michel Ardan]

It's practically on top of us. We'll be crushed. No.

[E.J. Barbicane]

It may go by. We may be safe.

[Michel Ardan]

It's past.

[E.J. Barbicane]

Yes, thank the Lord.

[Michel Ardan]

What was it, Monsieur?

[E.J. Barbicane]

A meteor? Piece of a worn out comet perhaps? Or a chunk of rock on its way to becoming a shooting star.

[Michel Ardan]

Ah, some fate has been kind to us, Barbicane. We can still reach the surface of the moon.

[E.J. Barbicane]

I'm not so sure, Michel.

[Michel Ardan]

Why not?

[E.J. Barbicane]

The gravitational pull of that meteor is something we didn't plan on. It seems that swerved us off of our course. Look at the nose of our rocket, Michel. It is no longer pointed toward the moon.

[Captain Nicholl]

Cerise. Captain Nicholl, I found the projectile. I can see it here in the telescope field.

[Cerise Barbicane]

Let me look.

[E.J. Barbicane]

Can you see any sign of life?

[Captain Nicholl]

There's nothing but a point of light, like a star. But it seems to move slowly toward the northern limb of the moon.

[E.J. Barbicane]

The northern limb? That isn't right. No.

[Captain Nicholl]

Something went wrong with our calculations. The rocket is thousands of miles off its course.

[Cerise Barbicane]

That little star, that little fleck of light at the moon's edge. Is that you, Father? Is that you, Michel? Do you know I'm watching you, Father? Do you know my heart is out there in space with you? A quarter of a million miles away? Michel, do you know I love you?

[E.J. Barbicane]

We can't be more than 50 miles above it now. The moon, the deserts of the moon.

[Michel Ardan]

There's something I want to ask you, Monsieur.

[E.J. Barbicane]

Yes. Well, Michel, what is it?

[Michel Ardan]

Your daughter, Cerise. Would you look with favor upon her.

[E.J. Barbicane]

Marriage to the right man?

[Michel Ardan]

To me?

[E.J. Barbicane]

Of course, Michel. But I'm afraid our paths will never lead back to the Earth again. Don't think about such things. Don't think backward toward the Earth. Think forward toward that burning globe underneath us. No one has seen it as we do now. That circular mountain over there, that's the crater of Tycho Brahe. In the vast stretch of the plateau right beneath us is the Mare Imbrium. Sea of Showers.

[Michel Ardan]

Monsieur Abercaim, we don't seem to be falling closer to the moon. We seem to be traveling parallel to the surface.

[E.J. Barbicane]

Yes, I've noticed that. Michelle, you and I in this rocket may become a moon.

[Michel Ardan]

What?

[E.J. Barbicane]

A moon of the moon. We may be bound by Newton's law of gravity to revolve forever about the Moon, just as that moon revolves forever about the Earth. They've disappeared. I can't see them in a telescope.

[Cerise Barbicane]

How can they just disappear behind the Moon?

[E.J. Barbicane]

The projectile has overshot its mark. I believe it's going to revolve around the other side of the satellite.

[Captain Nicholl]

Nicola, I have news. It may be wonderful news.

[Cerise Barbicane]

What is it?

[E.J. Barbicane]

What kind of news, Marston?

[Captain Nicholl]

We have enough observations of the rocket to plot its course. And knowing the mass of the projectile and the distances involved, I have computed something Barbicane and Michel could never calculate for themselves. I believe I know where they are going.

[Cerise Barbicane]

And we will see them again.

[Captain Nicholl]

Cerise. The projectile is moving in an open curve, what mathematicians call an hyperbola. Its path will cross the Earth's orbit. Orbit again. And my friends, if my figures are correct, our brave travelers through space will fall back into the Earth's atmosphere before the end of the week.

[Narrator]

Ladies and gentlemen, here is the latest news we have on the space projectile carrying Ardan and Barbicane. It has circled the moon and is now plunging back toward the Earth. Sometime tonight, sometime in the next few hours, the rocket propelled ship will arrive on the Earth's surface. Just a moment, ladies and gentlemen. There's a bulletin coming in. The corvette Susquehanna off the California coast has reported that the Moon bound spaceship crashed into the Pacific Ocean. The Susquehanna steamed to its rescue and picked up both the survivors alive and in good health.

[Michel Ardan]

And so, ladies and gentlemen, Monsieur Barbican and I are qualified to speak of the moon's other face because we have seen it. We have photographed it and mapped it. We have brought this hidden world into a scorpion scope of men's. Knowledge.

[Cerise Barbicane]

When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture room. How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick till rising and gliding out, I wandered off by myself.

[Michel Ardan]

Cerise.

[Cerise Barbicane]

Yes, Michel?

[Michel Ardan]

I saw you leave. Darling, are you all right?

[Cerise Barbicane]

Of course I'm all right. I just wandered off in the mystical moist night air. And from time to time. Yes, darling Looked up in perfect silence at the stars.

[Bullocks Store Announcer]

You've been listening to Jules Verne's from the Earth to the Moon. The favorite story choice of Carpeth Wells favorite story is brought to you each Tuesday at 9 by Bullocks in downtown Los Angeles, one of America's great stores. Football fans, many of you have been told by Bullocks during the past few weeks that tickets for the USC UCLA football game would go on sale November 13th at Bullock's Football ticket booth in the below street level Bullock store for men. Bullock's has just been notified by the home team ucla that due to the unusually large advance sale of tickets, season tickets, alumni, students and mail applications that they will not be in a position to provide Bullocks with tickets for public sale, which they originally thought could be arranged. All mail order money will be returned as soon as possible. Heard in this week's cast were William Conrad as Barbicane, George Sorrell, Jeff Corey, Byron Cain, Thelma Hubbard, Don Diamond, Bill Pannell and your announcer, George Barkley. This week's favorite story was directed by True Boardman. Sound designs were by Jack Hayes. Original music was composed by Bob Mitchell, who conducted Claude Sweeten's orchestra. This was a Lawrence and Lee production. Bullock's proudly originates it for the nation. Now here is True Boardman to tell you about next week's favorite story.

[Carveth Wells]

Next week, a Portrait in Venom, the great novel about a scheming woman named Becky Sharp. Thackeray's unforgettable Vanity Fair. It's the favorite story choice of one of the greatest novelists of our generation, Mr. Sinclair Lewis. We hope you'll be listening. Until next Tuesday then, and Vanity Fair. Good night to you from Bullocks.