HOST:

This is Ronald Colman inviting you to radio's most dramatic half-hour -- FAVORITE STORY!

MUSIC:

THEME ... THEN OUT

HOST:

During the next half hour we have only one intention -- to frighten you out of your wits. For this week's Favorite Story is probably the most startling tale of horror ever dreamed on this planet. And, strangely enough, it was written by a woman, the wife of one of the greatest poets of our language. Yes, before the minute hand of your watch completes its next half circle you're coming face to face with Frankenstein's monster. If you enjoy feeling your blood pressure rise, your pulse quicken, you'll certainly enjoy Mary Shelley's ghastly adventure of Dr. Frankenstein.

And would you like to know who picked Frankenstein as his favorite story? Eh, no, no, it wasn't Boris Karloff or Bela Lugosi. No, it's a man who has given you thousands of laughs over your radio -- Mr. Fred Allen. Now, we were a little surprised when Fred told us that Frankenstein was his favorite story, but he explained that he loves to be horrified when he listens to the radio, and that's why he, er-- (CHUCKLES) That's why he never misses the Jack Benny programs. Well, are all of you ready to have your spines chilled? Then here's the first act of -- Frankenstein.

MUSIC:

INTRODUCTION ... THEN OUT

VICTOR:

(WARMLY) Clerval! Come in, come in.

SOUND:

DOOR SHUTS ... CLERVAL'S STEPS IN

VICTOR:

My old friend! I didn't think you'd come. (NO RESPONSE) Have you nothing to say to me? A greeting for an old friend?

CLERVAL:

(WITH DISGUST) I should not have come here.

VICTOR:

Oh, no-- No, don't go! Don't leave me! Am I so disgusting to you, Clerval?

CLERVAL:

You have changed, Victor.

VICTOR:

(LIGHTLY DISMISSIVE) "Victor"! What a mockery my own name is. "Victor Frankenstein." I should change it, my friend -- (DARK CHUCKLE) -- to "Vanquished." "Vanquished Frankenstein." Good name for me, eh, Clerval? Eh? (NO ANSWER, THEN SADLY) Oh, it was not like this when we were at the university together, remember? At Ingolstadt?

CLERVAL:

I remember.

VICTOR:

We were roommates; good friends. We used to play backgammon together. I used to win. I - I wonder if I could still beat you at backgammon, Clerval. I have a board here and the dice.

SOUND:

BOARD AND DICE

CLERVAL:

This is insanity, Victor. This is what you called me here for? Urgent business? A matter of life or death? A game of backgammon?

VICTOR:

Don't leave me, Clerval! I'm afraid to be alone! (PLEADS QUIETLY) One game for old times' sake.

CLERVAL:

The old times have run out, Frankenstein.

VICTOR:

One game, I beseech you!

CLERVAL:

(BEAT, SIGHS, RELENTS) Give me the dice.

SOUND:

RATTLE OF DICE

VICTOR:

(NOSTALGIC, SLOWLY) Like old times. When we were young, Clerval. When we could laugh.

MUSIC:

TRANSITION INTO FLASHBACK

SOUND:

RATTLE OF DICE, THEN THROWN ... THE VOICES OF VICTOR AND CLERVAL SOUND YOUNGER AND HAPPIER

VICTOR:

(LAUGHS) There! (LAUGHS MERRILY)

CLERVAL:

(LIGHTLY ANNOYED) Why must I have the luckiest man in the university as a roommate?

VICTOR:

It's not luck, my friend; it's faith. A conviction, Clerval, that no matter what the odds are against you, you can overcome them.

CLERVAL:

You don't believe in the law of chance, and averages?

VICTOR:

I believe in the law of myself, and the power of the human brain.

CLERVAL:

Well, you're high; take the dice.

SOUND:

DICE PICKED UP AND RATTLED ... GAME PLAY CONTINUES IN BG

VICTOR:

Look at them, Clerval -- the dice.

CLERVAL:

Hm?

VICTOR:

What do you suppose they're made from?

CLERVAL:

Oh, I don't know.

VICTOR:

Bone, perhaps? Once these were part of a living being.

SOUND:

DICE THROWN ... GAME PLAY STOPS

VICTOR:

Strange, isn't it, what happens when a creature dies?

CLERVAL:

Well, that's what we're here studying medicine for, Victor -- to postpone death as long as possible.

VICTOR:

I wonder if there's another way, Clerval. I've been reading some of the ancient medical authorities like Albertus Magnus--

CLERVAL:

(INTERRUPTS, DISMISSIVE) Ahhh, witch doctors!

VICTOR:

Oh, no, no. They didn't have our knowledge and our instruments, but they were intelligent men. Combine their ideas with what we know today and the result may be a new way to defeat death.

CLERVAL:

Come, come, Victor. Are you going to play or not?

VICTOR:

Of course I'm going to play!

SOUND:

RATTLE OF DICE, THEN THROWN

ELIZABETH:

(APPROACHES, MERRILY) What a fine way to study medicine!

VICTOR:

(PLEASANTLY SURPRISED) What--? Elizabeth!

ELIZABETH:

(LAUGHS)

VICTOR:

What cloud did you drop from?

ELIZABETH:

Aunt Caroline had to drive up to Ingolstadt for a few days and she asked me to come with her.

VICTOR:

Elizabeth darling, it's heavenly to see you again!

ELIZABETH:

(GIGGLES AS THEY KISS)

SOUND:

DOOR OPENS BEHIND--

CLERVAL:

(MOVING OFF, LIGHTLY) When love walks in the door, backgammon flies out the window. See you both later.

ELIZABETH:

Of course, Clerval!

SOUND:

DOOR SHUTS AS CLERVAL EXITS

VICTOR:

Oh, my darling. How's everyone in Geneva? Uh, how's William?

ELIZABETH:

Your little brother is an absolute charmer -- the most beautiful child in the whole city.

VICTOR:

I hope I can be home for his tenth birthday.

ELIZABETH:

Well, why not? You'll be graduated by then, dear. (PROUDLY) Just think! My Victor will be "Doctor" Frankenstein!

MUSIC:

UNEASY ... IN BG

VICTOR:

(SLOW AND GRIM) Elizabeth, I won't be coming home after my graduation.

ELIZABETH:

(SURPRISED) What?

VICTOR:

We'll have to postpone our wedding a few months longer, Elizabeth. There's something I must do first. There's something I must do first.

MUSIC:

UP FOR AN OMINOUS TRANSITION OUT OF THE FLASHBACK

SOUND:

VOICES OF VICTOR AND CLERVAL SOUND OLDER

VICTOR:

Clerval, do you know what I did that summer after my graduation?

CLERVAL:

I don't want to know.

VICTOR:

You're my only friend; you must listen. I went up into the mountains alone. I had stumbled onto a combining of ancient and modern theories, which I believed, and was certain, could create a living creature. It had become an obsession with me. I had to build with my own hands a human form and imbue life in it!

MUSIC:

UNEASY BRIDGE ... THEN IN BG

VICTOR:

During those months I devoted myself day and night to the most arduous, most revolting work that a scientist has ever undertaken. I became an habitué of graveyards seeking beneath the freshly turned earth the materials with which I had to work. I began to put together a creature of human form. I found the minuteness of the parts a great handicap, so I resolved, for the ease of working, to make the creature a giant -- more than eight feet in height! -- so that the component parts -- arteries, veins, muscle tendons -- would be easier to work with.

During those months, Clerval, my hands performed deeds which the hands of men should never perform. The work was almost done. The huge unclothed monster lay grotesquely on my work table. I had filled its gigantic frame with blood and planned on the following day to subject it to the electric shocks which would activate its nervous system, make it a living breathing creature. I sank to my couch, exhausted, and fell into a deep sleep.

SOUND:

STORM FADES IN (WIND, RAIN, THUNDER) ... THEN IN BG

VICTOR:

During the night I heard the wind rise. I was disturbed fitfully by crashes of thunder and lightning flashes along the mountainside.

SOUND:

THUNDERCLAP! ... THEN STORM OUT BEHIND--

VICTOR:

Once, after a very near stroke of lightning seemed to electrify the air in my sleeping chamber, I thought I heard--

MUSIC:

OUT

VICTOR:

(SLOWLY) A sound? From my laboratory?

MUSIC:

UNEASY, IN BG

VICTOR:

Then -- Did I dream this or did it really happen?! -- the curtains around my bed were parted -- and I saw the monster! Its yellow skin! Its unblinking eyes! The dry papery lips -- moved!

MUSIC:

UP FOR AN ACCENT, THEN OUT WITH--

MONSTER:

(SINISTER GIBBERISH)

SOUND:

LONG, LOUD, LINGERING THUNDERCLAP! ... IT REVERBERATES AND FADES TO SILENCE

VICTOR:

(PAUSE) When I awoke in daylight, I laughed at what I thought had been a frightful dream. But at the door of my laboratory I smelled the pungent ozone fumes which accompany a strong electric shock. To my horror, I realized that a near bolt of lightning during the night could have infused life into the monster, even as I had planned it in my controlled experiment! I flung open the laboratory door!

SOUND:

LAB DOOR FLUNG OPEN

MUSIC:

BIG ACCENT

VICTOR:

My nightmare had happened! The monster was gone!

MUSIC:

UNEASY ACCENT ... THEN SORROWFUL, BEHIND VICTOR--

VICTOR:

For months, Clerval, I searched for the creature. There were a few vague rumors -- unconfirmed reports of a hideous shadow roaming the upper mountain valleys. Nothing to go on. I gave up the search and returned to Geneva.

MUSIC:

SLOWLY OUT

ELIZABETH:

My poor Victor, we've been so worried about you.

VICTOR:

(WEARY) I'm all right, darling, now that I'm with you.

ELIZABETH:

You're so thin, Victor. Where have you been all these wretched months?

VICTOR:

Traveling, Elizabeth -- in mind and body. Nothing you would understand -- or want to know.

ELIZABETH:

That's all over now. No more travels or worries. You're home.

VICTOR:

Yes. Home. Oh, darling, how soon can we be married? I'm casting away all my old life, all the unpleasantness. I'll set up practice here in Geneva and--

SOUND:

KNOCK ON DOOR

VICTOR:

Er-- (CALLS) Come in!

SOUND:

DOOR OPENS ... PREFECT'S STEPS IN ... DOOR CLOSES BEHIND--

PREFECT:

Dr. Frankenstein?

VICTOR:

I am he. What do you wish, sir?

PREFECT:

I'm the prefect of police. I have some distressing news.

VICTOR:

(BEAT) Well, what is it, sir?

PREFECT:

Your brother William - has been killed.

ELIZABETH:

(GASPS) No!

VICTOR:

How did it happen? An accident?

PREFECT:

No. No accident. He was strangled to death.

ELIZABETH:

(WHIMPER)

VICTOR:

(EXPLODES) But he's only a child! Ten years old! (BROKENLY) So -- tell me - exactly what happened.

PREFECT:

It was just growing dark, doctor. The children were playing hide-and-seek together. Little William hid himself in a grove of bushes by the edge of the lake. There was a scream. But, when they reached the child, the life had been choked out of him.

ELIZABETH:

Oh, how horrible!

VICTOR:

Officer, may I borrow a gun from you?

PREFECT:

Well--

VICTOR:

Er, for only an hour, and for my own protection.

PREFECT:

(RELUCTANT) I can probably arrange it.

ELIZABETH:

Victor! What are you going to do? Where are you going?

VICTOR:

To find my brother's murderer!

MUSIC:

ANGRY BRIDGE

SOUND:

FIERCE WIND BLOWS, THEN IN BG ... SLOW HEAVY FOOTSTEPS, WHICH STOP WITH--

MONSTER:

Stop! Stop!

VICTOR:

Who's that?

MONSTER:

Frank-en-stein!

VICTOR:

What's there?

MONSTER:

Do - you - not - remember?

VICTOR:

Get away! Don't touch me!

MONSTER:

I - will - not harm you -- Doc-tor Frank-en-stein.

VICTOR:

You - murdered my brother!

MONSTER:

Yes! It makes - me - feel - good - to - kill. Heh! Heh! Heh!

VICTOR:

I wish to God I'd never created you.

MONSTER:

But - you - did - create - me!

VICTOR:

What I created I can also destroy. Stand back, monster! You've breathed your last breath!

SOUND:

SIX GUNSHOTS!

VICTOR:

(OVERLAPS WITH GUNSHOTS) Die! Die! Why don't you die?!

MONSTER:

(SNARLS, GROWLS DURING ABOVE)

SOUND:

CLICKETY-CLICK! OF EMPTY REVOLVER

MUSIC:

SNEAKS IN ... OMINOUS, BUILDING TO CURTAIN IN BG

MONSTER:

(TRIUMPHANT) Your - little - pistol - can-not - hurt - me! Heh Heh! Heh!

VICTOR:

(TO HIMSELF) Dear Lord in Heaven, hear me, I beseech you. How can I destroy this thing - before it destroys me?!

MUSIC:

UP FOR CURTAIN

[COMMERCIAL BREAK]

HOST:

You know, Mary Shelley, who wrote Frankenstein, was the wife of Percy Bysshe Shelley, the British poet. I sometimes wonder what kind of married life they had together. Can you imagine Percy sitting at his work table of an evening, writing "Hail to Thee, Blithe Spirit" while Mary sat quietly at her desk making monsters with her quill pen? And Percy looking up and saying, "Darling, what rhymes with Ozymandias?" And his wife replying, "Don't interrupt me, dear. I'm right in the middle of a graveyard." Well, now it's time we return to the black foothills of the Jura mountains where Dr. Victor Frankenstein is continuing his terrifying story to his friend Clerval. Here's Fred Allen's Favorite Story, Act II.

MUSIC:

FOR A BRIEF INTRODUCTION

SOUND:

DICE RATTLED AND THROWN

VICTOR:

(SOMBER) A seven. I rolled a seven, Clerval.

CLERVAL:

I see it.

VICTOR:

Lucky number.

CLERVAL:

Did this "monster," as you call it, have anything to do with what happened to Elizabeth?

VICTOR:

I'll tell you, Clerval. I must tell someone. This frightful giant I had built came to me in the darkness -- always in the darkness! -- and begged me to build another creature like himself. But a woman!

CLERVAL:

Good lord.

VICTOR:

The thing was lonely. Nowhere, from no one, could it receive friendship or affection. It demanded that I build another monster, a mate. I refused, and it threatened me. It swore a frightful oath.

MUSIC:

GRIM ... IN BG

MONSTER:

If - you - will - not - build me - a companion, - I - will - destroy - everything - you - love. And I - will be with you - on your - wedding day!

MUSIC:

UP FOR AN ACCENT ... FADES OUT BEHIND--

VICTOR:

What could I do? Elizabeth and I were engaged. Only a few weeks remained before we were to be married. I thought for the sake of her safety that I - I must do what the monster asked.

SOUND:

FIERCE WIND BLOWS, IN BG

VICTOR:

So I climbed up to my dismal mountain laboratory where I had conducted the first experiment. I went into the workroom. And I set about the disgusting labor of creating another giant -- a woman.

MUSIC:

TRANSITION ... THEN IN BG

VICTOR:

When the task was half done -- while the ghoulish torso lay incomplete on my work table -- I paused to wonder: Would the fiend keep its promise? Would the monster cease from murder and destruction? Or would I be turning two demons loose upon the world, two creatures which would breed children as hideous as themselves? In a few generations these monsters, born of my hand, could extinguish civilization on this planet! Perhaps wipe out the human race! I couldn't do this thing.

MUSIC:

OUT

VICTOR:

I gathered together the poor pieces of my half-made creature and I flung them-- (MUSIC: CYMBAL WASH) --from the ledge of a high cliff into a nearby lake!

MUSIC:

BIG ACCENT ... THEN IN BG

VICTOR:

But as I did these things, I - I knew I was being watched. Somewhere in that forest of pine tree shadows, somewhere among the moonless crags, I knew that two eyes were following my every movement. As I packed my few belongings for the trip back home to Geneva -- back to my precious Elizabeth, back to the little wedding chapel where we were to be made husband and wife -- one terrible memory kept echoing through my mind.

MONSTER:

(ECHO) I - will - be - with you - on - your - wedding day! Heh! Heh! Heh!

MUSIC:

UP FOR AN OMINOUS TRANSITION (WHICH QUOTES A MOURNFUL LINE OF "BRIDAL CHORUS" BY WAGNER) ... THEN OUT

ELIZABETH:

(VERY HAPPY, LIGHTLY) Victor darling, what's troubling you?

VICTOR:

(TROUBLED) Nothing, my sweet. Nothing really.

ELIZABETH:

Ah, this has been the happiest day of my life, Victor, and by far the most important. We are married! Do you realize that, dearest? Actually married!

VICTOR:

(HOPELESSLY) I hope that all our days together will be as happy as this one has been.

ELIZABETH:

Why shouldn't they be? What earthly thing could mar our happiness?

VICTOR:

Oh, Elizabeth, if you knew. If you only knew!

ELIZABETH:

Victor, what's the matter?

VICTOR:

(NERVOUS) Light a lamp, dear, quickly. It's almost dark here. We must have light.

ELIZABETH:

(AMUSED) Afraid of the night, my sweet?

VICTOR:

Desperately afraid -- of this night. Elizabeth, until the sun rises again you must not leave my sight. There's great danger, darling.

ELIZABETH:

Oh, Victor, you're overwrought.

VICTOR:

I must not leave you alone, not for a single instant!

ELIZABETH:

(LIGHTLY) Is the new bride to have no privacy then? Oh, come, Victor. Kiss me farewell.

VICTOR:

No!

ELIZABETH:

For five minutes only. We've not even unpacked our bags. (MOVING OFF) I must have time to arrange my wardrobe.

VICTOR:

Elizabeth, don't go, darling -- don't!

SOUND:

DOOR OPENS, OFF

ELIZABETH:

(OFF) For five minutes only!

SOUND:

DOOR SHUTS, OFF, AS ELIZABETH EXITS

VICTOR:

(DESPERATE) Elizabeth! (EXHALES SLOWLY)

SOUND:

SLOW TICK OF CLOCK, IN BG, UNTIL DEATH SCREAM

MUSIC:

SOMBER, BEHIND CLOCK ... FILLS A PAUSE

ELIZABETH:

(ON CUE, BLOODCURDLING DEATH SCREAM!)

VICTOR:

(HORRIFIED) Elizabeth!

MUSIC:

UP FOR BIG ACCENT ... THEN OUT

VICTOR:

(MISERABLE) My poor darling Elizabeth. What have I done to you?

PREFECT:

You must not blame yourself, Dr. Frankenstein. You had nothing to do with this ghastly murder.

VICTOR:

I did!

PREFECT:

What?

VICTOR:

I'm to blame! I created my wife's murderer!

PREFECT:

Doctor--?

VICTOR:

You're a magistrate! A police officer. Arrest me! Take me to prison where I belong!

PREFECT:

Doctor, I can understand your emotional distress, but we know this dreadful night's happenings are no fault of yours.

VICTOR:

How do you know? Hear me, sir. Hear my confession. I have created a monster. Built it with my own hands. Imbued it with life. But this demon I created has no soul. It devotes itself to one fiendish purpose -- to destroy all things that I love, and which love me. Sir, send your policemen out in full force to scour the mountainside for this monster. It must be found. It must be found!

PREFECT:

(TO OTHER POLICE) Oh, poor fellow, he's out of his head with grief.

VICTOR:

Do you think I'm raving? I was never more sane in my life, sir. I tell you-- I tell you, I've created an indestructible monster!

PREFECT:

Doctor, you must rest. Rest and sleep will make you feel better.

VICTOR:

(PAUSE, SLOWLY) You poor fools. You think I am mad? You! You are the mad ones!

MUSIC:

TRANSITION OUT OF FLASHBACK

SOUND:

DICE RATTLED

VICTOR:

My last throw of the dice, Clerval. I will lose. Even as I had faith in my young days that I would win, now I have faith that I've already lost.

CLERVAL:

Roll the dice, Victor. Get this over with. It's a long walk back to the city; I want to get home while there's still moonlight.

VICTOR:

(SLOWLY) Wait. Wait. Is it - possible? No, no, no, it's not possible. I thought for a moment, Clerval, that the dice moved in my hand.

CLERVAL:

Moved? Of their own accord?

VICTOR:

They're made from bone, these dice. They were once living tissue in a living creature. I've made dead things live again.

CLERVAL:

Victor, this is insane. You should submit yourself to qualified medical care. This monster you speak of, it's - it's nothing but a wild dream in your sick imagination. (SOUND: DOORKNOB TURNS, OFF ... DOOR SLOWLY CREAKS OPEN, IN BG) These unfortunate deaths close to you have warped your brain. Your monster does not exist--

VICTOR:

(SEES MONSTER, GASPS, TERRIFIED) Clerval!

CLERVAL:

Now get a grip on yourself, man. (SOUND: MONSTER'S SLOW HEAVY STEPS APPROACH IN BG) You never created such a creature. There is no such monster on the face of the earth.

VICTOR:

Clerval! Look behind you!

CLERVAL:

Great God!

SOUND:

STEPS OUT

MUSIC:

GRAND AND OMINOUS ACCENT ... THEN BRIEFLY BEHIND MONSTER--

MONSTER:

You - are - a friend - of - Doc-tor Frank-en-stein?!

VICTOR:

(DESPERATE) No! No! Clerval is no friend of mine! He's--!

MONSTER:

You - lie!

SOUND:

MONSTER'S STEPS TO CLERVAL, IN BG

VICTOR:

I don't know him! He's not a friend!

MONSTER:

(SNARLS) I - kill - all - who - are - friends - of - Frank-en-stein!

VICTOR:

(HYSTERICAL) Get away from him! No, get away! Stay back! Stay back!

CLERVAL:

(SCREAMS, THEN SCREAMS AGAIN ... PAUSE, THEN DEATH GURGLE)

MONSTER:

He - is - dead! Heh!

SOUND:

BODY DROPPED

VICTOR:

Is there no end to your crimes?

MONSTER:

No - end!

VICTOR:

Will you destroy everything in my life?!

MONSTER:

Ev'ry - thing but - your life!

VICTOR:

Go away!

MONSTER:

I - go - now. But I will be - with you, - Frank-en-stein! You - are in - my power - forever! Heh! Heh!

MSUIC:

BRIDGE ... TRIUMPHANT, THEN MISERABLE ... THEN BEHIND VICTOR--

VICTOR:

Hear me, all living creatures within sound of my voice. Remember what I say. I warn you, the monster I created is still at liberty, roaming the dark places of the night. Beware of him, for with one silent stroke of his finger, he can crush out your life. Of all things, do not speak my name, for the sound of the syllables "Frankenstein" makes the anger rise in the monster's brain. If you say my name, he may think you a friend of Frankenstein, and his hairy hands will close about your throat, as they did of that of Little William; and Elizabeth; poor Clerval. I beg you, beware of the monster, lurking in the shadows. (MUSIC: OUT) And if God wills it, speak one prayer for the most wretched, lonely man who has ever walked this planet -- Victor Frankenstein.

MUSIC:

CURTAIN

HOST:

And thus we close the curtain on Fred Allen's Favorite Story. Sorry we couldn't arrange a happy ending, but that's the note on which Mary Shelley leaves us in her adventure of Frankenstein. We hope you've enjoyed this tale of fear, and we hope you'll plan to be with us next week when we bring you a favorite story as different from Frankenstein as day from night.

[COMMERCIAL BREAK]

HOST:

Next week we'll be the guests of Jules Verne and we'll descend to the floor of the deepest ocean, under the guidance of the inscrutable Captain Nemo. Yes, next week you can pack your bags for a journey of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. This astonishing adventure is the favorite story choice of the famous actor-director-producer and man-about-the-entertainment-world, Mr. Orson Welles. We hope you'll be listening.

MUSIC:

FOR A FINISH