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Relic Radio Thrillers (Old Time Radio)
The Time Machine Affair by Europe Confidential
Relic Radio Thrillers features The Time Machine Affair, from Europe Confidential this week. This series aired during the latter half of the 1950's. Listen to more from Europe Confidential https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/e55e1c7a-e213-4a20-8701-21862bdf1f8a/Thriller910.mp3 Download Thriller910 | Subscribe | Spotify | Support Relic Radio Thrillers
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Relicradio.com presents stories of mystery and intrigue, espionage and suspense. Hear tales of ticking time bombs, mysterious crime scenes and cloak and dagger action. This is relic radio thrillers presenting the world's greatest mysteries. And now your host. This is Basil Rathbone. The sitting for our mystery today is European, a continent of timeless mystery. In the aftermath of war, with its bomb cities and refugee people, there are many strange tales. Our storyteller is an American newspaper man with his headquarters in Paris. He has seen many of the events that have made the news. And the stories that he tells us concern some of these events and also tales that have never been told before. The world in which he lives is one of intrigue, suspense and danger. His job is to put these tales into nice, clean print for your morning paper. He does not always tell the whole story, but today, to you, he tells it all. Sam presenting Europe Confidential. Well, monsieur Connor, the doctor is gone. The time machine has taken him five minutes into the future. That steel box. I don't believe it. No? Then allow me to show you. It is now safe to open the door. Holy smoke. Well, he's gone. Just disappeared. In a moment, we'll bring you Lionel Merton as Mike Knoye, the Paris correspondent of a famous American newspaper in another exciting story in our series, Europe Confidential. My name is Mike Kanoy. I write a column called Europe confidential for a New York paper here in Paris. Who was the guy who said, protect me from my friends? Whoever it was must surely have had somebody like Pierre Patriau in mind. Pierre's one of my best pals, but he gets me into more trouble than my worst enemy ever could. Pierre's a big, bouncing, affable kind of guy. And he owns a big, bouncing, affable Alsatian dog called Bruno. When Bruno wags his tail, he almost knocks you over with it. When he licks your face, it's worse than being kissed by a dozen maiden ants. So maybe you can imagine my feelings when Pierre phoned me up one evening and said, mike, mon ami, I want you to do me a very small favor. Will you look after my little Bruno for a few days? What? Me? Well, I have been called out of town. Out at Lee. I have to fly to Rome. Oh, but look. He loves you, my Bruno. He wags his little tail for joy whenever I mention your name. My. See? Now, look, Pierre, much as I'd like to do this for you, wouldn't it be better for Bruno's sake to put him in a kennels for a few days in the Kennels. My Bruno. And Mike. An experience like that can be very unsettling to a sensitive dog. He would be amongst racers. He would feel rejected, unwanted. Yeah, but Pierre. But you, Bruno, would be with a friend. Well, no doubt, but Pierre, I just haven't got room in my apartment. And in return for your kind elf Mike, mon ami, I am going to give you a big story for your car. Oh, a very big story. An exclusive one too, about a time machine. A what? We want to meet. You work correctly. The story of the year. Bruno and I will come around right away. Sit down, Pierre. You care for a whiskey, Majesty? Mon ami. Yeah, yeah, good boy. Nice, Bruno. Down boy, Bruno, you scallywag. Do as you're told. Ah, yes. He is so very fond of you, Mike. He considers you as one of his best friends. Ah, I know he will be happy here and now. What's this nonsense you were spotting about time machines? Oh, it is not nonsense. So I am assured. A man called Dr. Jagel has invented a time machine here in Paris. You don't have a spare grain of salt, do you? I'd like to take it with this gag. Believe it or believe it not mine. Perhaps a man is just another crackbud. But the person who told me didn't seem to think so. He told me of this time machine in Stricter's confidence. He made me swear not to breathe a word of it. Yeah, so you're telling me. Well, you're a friend. There are no secrets between planes. What's this machine look like then? And what does it do? That I don't know. But you will find Dr. Jagel's address in the telephone directory. Why don't you ask him yourself? And now my. I must go. My plane leaves in 30 minutes. Goodbye, Bruno, I said. I will be gone only a few days. Ah, my little one. I take good care of him, Mike. If he is bad, punish him by all means. But remember, he is a very sensitive dog. Yeah, I'll remember. Goodbye, Mike. Goodbye, Bruno. So there I was, left with 130 pounds of sensitive Alsatian and the wildest story I'd heard since Tommy Manville said he'd never marry again. So what did I do? I locked Bruno up in my sitting room and went out to see Dr. Jagal, as Pierre had suggested. I found his address in the telephone directory. He lived on the outskirts of Paris, an hour's drive from my apartment, in a very nice looking house, set well back from the sidewalk. I strolled up the path and knocked on the door yes? Oh, Good evening. Is Dr. Jegall in, please? I am Jegall. Oh, fine. My name is Mike. I write a column for a paper here in Paris. Reporto? More or less. And what do you want, monsieur? Well, somebody mentioned that you were working on a. I don't know the correct scientific term. Time machine. You have been misinformed. Oh, you mean you definitely haven't been doing any experiments with time travel? If I had, that would be my own business. Yeah, I guess it would at that. Unless you cared to change your mind. I do not care to. Well, have it your way. But look, Dr. Jegal. Yes? Perhaps you'd like to make some short statement. Just a few words. Certain name. Oh, good. And the statement? Get off my property before I call the police. Have I made myself clear? After my highly unsuccessful interview with Dr. Jagel, I went home to my apartment in Bruno. Man's best friend had sunk his teeth into a coffee table, chewed a pair of slippers to shreds, and was just starting on my best pair of brogues. I called him half a dozen names that would make a prairie dog hang his tail and chain. But not Bruno. He just grinned at me and wanted to play games. So I tossed him a couple of pounds of steak from the deep freeze and went to bed. Next evening, after a show, driving home, I suddenly realized I was just a few blocks away from Jaegal's place. For some reason or other, I got to wondering about Jagal. I thought it'd be nice just to have a look around his house. I pulled up, swung the car around, and I headed in the direction of the Jagal residence. Why? Hunch? No, not even that. I guess I was just curious. I parked the car a few doors down the street, and within a few minutes I was walking around your girl's house like a commoner Garden prowler. The place was in darkness. I strolled around to the rear of the house and attached to the main building was what looked to be a large workshop. I stood on tiptoes and tried to peer in the window. Suddenly I heard a noise behind me. I wheeled around, but it was too late. Everything went very, very black. He's coming around, Doctor. Good. So you have a slight headache, Monsieur Connor? Slugdom. What do you expect for trespassing? A prize? And there's the guy who slugged me, my assistant Jean, and a very efficient caretaker into the bargain. Why did you come back, Konoi? Why were you snooping? I was looking for the answers that you wouldn't supply me with last night. You realize I Could ring the police over this. I guess I'd deserve it if you did. I should have minded my own business, but you know how it is with newspaper men. Mind if I stand up? Don't try anything funny then. I assure you I'm in no state to try anything funny or otherwise. Certainly hit me hard. Knew you could have been a burglar. I guess so. Yeah. Thank you, Scotty. And here are aspirins. Yeah, thanks. It'll make you feel better. How long have I been out? 20 minutes or so. A little longer perhaps. I guess I better get going. Thanks for the coffee. And tomorrow in your paper you will write about a mad doctor who invents time machines and his assistant who attacks people. Yeah, well, I hadn't really thought about it. At this stage there is nothing I want less than publicity. Particularly unfavorable, inaccurate publicity. So? Oh, I will make a bargain with you. I will give you the whole truth tonight. But you must not publish any of it for two days. You've got yourself a deal. Excellent. In this way, Mr. Panoy, I would like to show you my hiding machine in the same way that anyone else would show you his prize snapdragons. Dr. Jagal ushered me into his workshop and proudly showed me his time machine. Jagal's workshop looked like a combination of Frankenstein's laboratory and an amateur radio hams transmitting room. And right in the center stood a solid steel box about 8ft square. And there it is, monsieur. That's a time machine. Yes. My own modest contribution to science. And what if I say I don't believe it? You don't have to. Surely this sort of thing can't be possible. I have brought you in here to show you that it is. Well, I'm waiting. It is possible to give you a demonstration. But not a very impressive one. Not at this point stage anyhow. Well, any kind of a demonstration will do very well. May I look inside? Just looks like a steel box with dials and a few switches. That in fact is what it is. But the dials are to measure travel through space and time and the switches are to control it. Well, Doc? I'm waiting. Jean. The controls are still set as they were this afternoon's experiment. Excellent. Mr. Kai, I'm about to travel five minutes into the future. Please promise me not to touch anything. I'll take Jean's work. I promise. Good. All set, Jean. The doctor is now five minutes in the future. Mr. Conray. That was the signal. I don't believe it. No? Then allow me to show you it is safe now to open the door. Holy smoke. Well, he's gone now. I happen to be a guy who doesn't believe in fairies, Santa Claus, flying saucers or time machines. At least up to that moment I didn't. But right before my eyes, almost a man had disappeared into the future. That sort of thing just can't happen. But it had. Jean closed the door again and we waited for the Doctor's return. You see, he is back. Well, Mr. Conway, can't be. 60 years ago they said that about the airplane. 30 years ago about television. But where did you go? Five minutes into the future and what did you see? Just the steel walls of my machine. Five minutes into the future is now. That means we should be able to see you in that machine at this moment. No, Monsieur Conoy, that would be impossible. That would be a parado. There cannot be two Dr. Jegard's existing together at the same moment. I don't quite understand. No, you would have to be a mathematician before you could. But tell me, why have you kept it so dark? Why haven't you told other scientists or the government? Simply because I wish to make myself a fortune. Oh, and how do you intend to go about that? My fortune? You are inquisitive, aren't you? My job, I suppose there's no harm in telling you. I have formed a company, Monsieur Connolly. Shareholders consist of myself and eight prominent Paris businessmen and financiers. Altogether our capital amounts to almost a hundred million francs. And what are you going to do? Mass produce these machines? Oh no, on the contrary. We will ensure that this machine remains the only one in existence. How do you plan to make money tomorrow, Monsieur Connolly? The other shareholders will come to my laboratory. The Chairman and the Secretary will have with them 90% of our capital converted into gold. I'm with you so far. Jean and I will make a hundred year trip into the future. With the gold we will purchase several objects. What sort of objects? Things which have not yet been invented. Huh. Here in 1957. The inventions will be priceless. They will be worth billions. But surely it can't be possible. But how could. Okay, I give in. I won't even try to work it out. What time tomorrow do you plan this thing? And how long will you be away? At 4pm tomorrow we will make our trip. 12 hours later we shall return. And before you ask your next question, Monsieur Connolly, the answer is yes. You may come and watch. But until the journey is completed, you must not breathe a word to anybody. Understand? Sure. And thanks for allowing me to be here now, Mr. Connoy. Jean and I are both very tired. Yeah, yeah. I'll say good night then. Good night, Mr. Connoy. And I trust your headache is better by tomorrow. Have you ever had the feeling? Feeling of complete unreality. As though what you're experiencing just can't really be true? Well, that's how I felt as I walked away from Jagal's place. My common sense told me it was surely all a pack of nonsense. But for 15 minutes I sat in my car smoking. Then I decided to risk being slugged again. I was going back to Jacal's time machine. I waited nearly an hour to make sure Jigal and his bodyguard were both sound asleep. Then I crept back to the window of the workshop. It gave me no trouble. Within a few minutes I was standing before the time machine itself. I opened the door and I walked inside. About an hour later I crept back to my car and drove home to my apartment. Had I discovered anything interesting? I'd love to tell you. But that would spoil the story, wouldn't it? Back home, my friend Bruno was waiting for me. Hello mutt. Good boy. Yeah, yeah. Down boy. I'm your friend, not your dinner. Okay, okay. I'll feed you in a minute. Bruno, old boy. Tomorrow afternoon you're going to take part in a very interesting experiment. Yeah. An experiment with time travel. What do you think about that, huh? Next afternoon at 3:35, I arrived at Jagal's house. The eight other members of the company were assembled in the workshop. Jaegal introduced me and I began chatting to a Monsieur Blanclain. Whose firm makes a very well known make of refrigerator here in Paris. Oh, Mr. Conoy, I can see no reason at all why this venture should not prove a success. I take it you've invested pretty heavily in a project? Most of us have. Have you investigated Dr. Jagal's equipment at all? Investigated it? No. But the doctor has explained the principle of it to us on several occasions. Why should we have it investigated? Dr. Gigal has demonstrated time travel to us only a dozen or more times. That parcel over there is the gold. That is correct. Why was gold chosen? Because a hundred years from now our peasant currency will be worthless. Gold, however, maintains its value. I see. And gentlemen. Gentlemen. Today we make history. Today my assistant and I travel in the fourth dimension. The dimension of space time. I wish to thank every one of you for giving me the opportunity to construct this machine and to turn theory into reality. Profitable reality. With Ra and I, in a few moments will journey into the future. When in 12 hours we return. We hope to hold the secrets to a dozen inventions which will mean fortunes for all of us. Gentlemen, once again I thank you, Dr. Gegard. On behalf of my colleagues, I should like to wish you all luck and Godspeed. Thank you. Is everything ready, Jean? Yes, Doctor. The switches are set. And now the goal. It's very heavy now. One moment. Dr. Jagal, before you go, do you have any statement to make? All I can say is that I trust our trip will prove successful. When I return, Mr. Conoy, I hope to be able to tell you much more. And now, goodbye, gentlemen. Well, they are gone. And now all we can do is to wait. I wouldn't worry about it, Monsieur Blanclain. I somehow feel that you won't be waiting for very long. What do you mean by that, young man? Or let's call it a hunch. A house. An old American term meaning premonition. See what I mean? Never fails. Sounds like a dog. Take him off. Get away. Get away. Get away. Take him off. Quickly. Roll the door. Get them away from him. Can it be a dog? Here, Bruno. Here Bruno. Good boy. Can it be a dog from the future? No, Monsieur Blanclain. It's a dog from the underground. Underground? Yeah. Gentlemen, may I demonstrate? No, no. Keep away from my machine. Take it easy, Doctor. I just want to show these gents how your invention operated. Trapdoor. Yeah. Hidden beneath that metal plate it leads to a tunnel which emerges at the end of the doctor's garden. Blast you, Conoy. It was only exactly Dr. Jaegerle intended making a trip with your goal just as he said. But his journey was not into the future. He had no intention of coming back. If I were you gentlemen, I'd ring for the gendarmes. Mr. Connolly, on behalf of the other shareholders, I must thank you. Oh, think nothing of it. It was more luck than anything else. I suspected Jaegal for a phony from the start. When I snooped around last night and found that trap door in the tunnel, I was sure of the fact. So you put the dog in the tunnel? Yeah. Bruno didn't attack them. He just wanted to be friendly. But J. Gall and John weren't to know that. We should have suspected that it was a retake. But there was something about the doctor's manner. Oh, he was a first rate confidence man. That's not the first time he swindled anybody. I checked on his record this morning. Eight previous convictions in the past 20 years. My prediction is that he'll be behind bars for quite some time. I. Come on, Bruno. We got to go home and write a story. And so ended the episode of Dr. Jaegal and the Time Machine. Bruno had proved very useful, but when Pierre called for him two days later, I wasn't sorry to see him go. Pierre remarked how healthy and well fed Bruno looked. Well, and so he should have. He'd just eaten six of the best pairs of shoes in Paris. My shoes. You have been listening to Lionel Merton as Mike Kanoy in another exciting episode in the series Europe Confidential. This is Dazzle Rathbone again. You've learned a little more of the secrets related by Mike from his headquarters in Paris. He'll be with us again soon with another exciting tale. So goodbye now, till we meet again to listen to another of the world's greatest mysteries. Sa.