ANNCR.:

Mutual presents Arch Oboler's Plays, tonight starring Mr. Paul Muni! The Mutual Broadcasting System brings you the final broadcast of a special twenty-six week series of plays by radio playwright Arch Oboler, a series of dramas concerning the people of this expanding world in which we live. The play -- "This Living Book." The leading player -- the distinguished actor Mr. Paul Muni.

MUSIC:

BEGINS. IT IS NEITHER SONOROUS NOR SOLEMN, BUT THE SINGING OF STRINGS. IT CONTINUES BEHIND:

NARRATOR:

A poet of the people said this:

How many ages and generations have brooded and wept and agonized over this Book! What untellable joys and ecstasies, what support to martyrs at the stake, to what myriads has it been the shore and rock of safety -- the refuge from driving tempest and wreck! Of its thousands there is not a verse, not a word, but is thick-studded with human emotion.

MUSIC:

RISES, THEN ENDS

VOICE:

In this time of the testing of human values, the Book is a part of the undercurrent of life, a stream of cultural treasure linking the past with the life-stream of each man of decency. Turn your thoughts, you who listen, away from yourself for these moments, and listen to the book -- as it lives!

MUSIC:

HITS -- RISES, SWIRLS-THEN DOWN AND CONTINUING QUIETLY, ALMOST OMINOUSLY, BEHIND:

NARRATOR:

In the beginning God created the heaven and earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and the darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, "Let there be light; and there was light." And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.

MUSIC:

DIES AWAY ON A DESCENDING SCALE OF THE STRINGS, THE CELLOS PREDOMINATING

FATHER:

(HE IS A SOMBER-VOICED MAN) What time is it, Fred?

FRIEND:

Almost four-thirty. Sky's getting lighter.

FATHER:

(TIGHTLY) Such a long time. . . .

FRIEND:

That's how it is with some women. . . .

FATHER:

Listen!

FRIEND:

What--

FATHER:

She isn't crying out any more!

FRIEND:

That can be a good sign.

FATHER:

(TIGHTLY) Yeah?

FRIEND:

Now, Joe, doc's with her--

SOUND:

CRY OF NEWBORN BABY, BACK

FRIEND:

(HAPPILY) Joe!

FATHER:

(IN WONDER) Yes!

DOCTOR:

(CALLING, FAR BACK) Joe! It's a boy!

FRIEND:

Attaboy, Joe! Didn't I tell you-- (HE STOPS AT THE LOOK IN THE OTHER MAN'S FACE) Joe! Ain't you glad?

FATHER:

(PUZZLED) I -- I don't know. . . .

FRIEND:

What's the matter with you?

FATHER:

(QUICKLY, ALMOST IN DESPERATION) If I say it to you I won't say it to her -- and it's better that way! I didn't want this kid, Fred -- I didn't want it because every time I felt my empty sleeve, and then read the headlines, I said to myself, "No Kid! No! Let the world go to the Devil where it belongs! In 1920, war only over two years, and already they've forgotten all the fine words that sent me over there! Already they're grabbing, and conniving, and cheating!"

SOUND:

BABY CRIES, BACK

FATHER:

I -- I'd better go to see her -- and him.

FRIEND:

(SLOWLY) Yea . . . Joe -- Joe, listen. What you just said -- well, think of this. When a baby's born -- maybe -- maybe it's like a new day.

MUSIC:

HITS, THEN DOWN AND CONTINUING IN THE BACKGROUND

NARRATOR:

And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

And the Lord said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them."

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah was a just man and Noah walked with God. And God said unto Noah, "The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark!"

Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he. And the Lord said unto Noah, "Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation."

MUSIC:

RISES, THEN ENDS ON THE CLEAR CALL OF THE FRENCH HORNS

SOUND:

OF BIRDS IN THE PARK -- IN THE DISTANCE WE HEAR THE HAPPY LAUGHTER OF CHILDREN

JOHN:

(HE IS A HAPPY NINE YEARS OF AGE) Lookit the wind blow the sails! It's the best boat in the world -- isn't it, Pop?

FATHER:

All right, son -- come ahead -- your mother's waiting lunch.

JOHN:

(RESIGNED) Okay, pop. Pop -- why haven't we got a big boat?

FATHER:

Well, I guess it's because we haven't enough money.

JOHN:

But everybody's got lots of money now!

FATHER:

Really? Who told you that?

JOHN:

Teacher.

FATHER:

Yes, I suppose. Someday 1929 may be considered the golden year! Who knows?

JOHN:

Why can't we have a boat, pop?

FATHER:

Well, lend an ear! The clean one.

JOHN:

(LAUGHS)

FATHER:

Now suppose it was a bright sunny day like this, and everybody was laughing and having lots of fun, but you felt there was a storm coming up -- a terrible storm! A storm that would blow away everything that wasn't strong and honest! And supposing you knew that the only way you could earn that boat was to be not quite honest -- was to cheat a little here, and take a little there, and sneak a little, and lie a little. And knowing that the boat wasn't an honest boat, you'd know that the storm would blow it away, and you'd have nothing left but the thought that you hadn't been honest with yourself -- and with the other people who share this world with you. Would you want the boat then, Johnny?

MUSIC:

HITS HARD. THEN DOWN, WITH QUIET OMINOUS MOVEMENT BEHIND

NARRATOR:

To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear?
Behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach;
They have no delight in it.
Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord:
I am weary with holding in:
I will pour it out upon the children abroad.
And upon the assembly of young men together:
For even the husband with the wife shall be taken,
The aged with him that is full of days.
And their houses shall be turned unto others.
With their fields and wives together:
"For I will stretch out my hand
Upon the inhabitants of the land," saith the Lord.
"For the least of them even unto the greatest of them
Every one is given to covetousness; every one dealeth falsely.
Saying 'Peace, peace'; when there is no peace."

MUSIC:

AGAIN THE MUSIC RISES, ENDING ON THE QUIET CALL OF THE FRENCH HORNS

SOUND:

MANY VOICES AT MASS MEETING. WE HEAR THE HOLLOW ECHO OF THE GAVEL AS THE CHAIRMAN CALLS FOR ATTENTION. THE SOUND OF THE GAVEL INCREASES QUICKLY IN LEVEL AS WE MOVE ONTO THE STAGE.

CHAIRMAN:

(HE IS A POMPOUS LITTLE UNIVERSITY SENIOR) If you please! Ladies and gentlemen, order, if you please.

SOUND:

THE MURMUR OF THE AUDIENCE DIES AWAY

CHAIRMAN:

(HE IS ON THE VERGE OF BEING BROADLY SARCASTIC) Would the gentleman in the audience who just spoke state his name?

JOHN:

(FAR BACK -- HE IS A YOUNG, EARNEST EIGHTEEN NOW) John Eli Adams.

CHAIRMAN:

John Eli Adams! Yes, we were quite sure it wasn't Quincy.

SOUND:

QUIET TITTER FROM THE AUDIENCE. WE HEAR WHISPERING AS SOMEONE SAYS SOMETHING INTO THE CHAIRMAN'S EAR

CHAIRMAN:

I have just been informed that you are a member of the sophomore class.

JOHN:

(FAR BACK) That's right.

CHAIRMAN:

May I ask: Hasn't Mr. Adams read the program of this meeting now in his hand?

JOHN:

Yes, sir, I have read it! But it's neither fish, flesh, nor good sense!

SOUND:

THE CROWD REACTS

CHAIRMAN:

(BANGING HIS GAVEL) Please, please, gentlemen! Let's hear what Johnny Adams has to say. It may throw light upon certain opinions -- fortunately very much in the minority on this campus!

JOHN:

(FAR BACK) When I say that the reason for this meeting doesn't make much sense, I'm really asking a question! The question is, haven't any of the four or five hundred students here today had time to read the newspapers lately?

CHAIRMAN:

(POUNDING GAVEL) Enlighten us, Mr. Adams! Please enlighten us!

JOHN:

This is called the "University Conference for Peace in Our Time," but I always thought that in order to have a peace conference, all the combatants had to be present! Where are they?

SOUND:

AUDIENCE MURMURS

JOHN:

(HIS VOICE FADES IN SLOWLY THROUGH THE FOLLOWING AS IF THE MICROPHONE WERE MOVING DOWN TOWARD HIM) How can you talk of peace in our time if the Beast isn't here! That's our only antagonist! Do I have to tell you about it? It's the Beast that calls itself blonde but has many colors and many faces, and one of them is cowardice, and the other one is the selfishness of the child-minded!

SOUND:

AUDIENCE REACTS ANGRILY

CHAIRMAN:

(FAR BACK) Well, well! We have with us John Elijah, the Sophomore Prophet!

JOHN:

One has to be neither an upper classman nor a prophet to be able to tell what's ahead! For all of us! And particularly for you fellows! You're talking "no war" now, but what you're really saying is, "I'm 18 or 19 or 20, and I'm just beginning to live in this world, so no matter what the cost, don't damage this world in any way that'll cheat me of what I want!" But I tell you, gentlemen, the cost of peace in your time is too much for even you or me to pay! Sure I'm 18, and sure I want a chance at loving, and having, and being! But not at the cost of men and women hunted like animals! How dare we, the young, expect peace in our time, when there is no peace in the world?

MUSIC:

HITS, THEN AFTER A FEW BARS CHANGES IN MOOD TO LOVE MUSIC, AND CONTINUES IN THE BACKGROUND BEHIND:

NARRATOR:

Behold thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair;
Thine eyes are as doves behind thy veil;
Thy hair is as a flock of goats,
That lie along the side of Mount Gilead.
Thy teeth are like a flock of ewes that are newly shorn,
Which are come up from the washing;
Whereof every one hath twins,
And none is bereaved among them.
Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet,
And thy mouth is comely:
Thy temples are like a piece of pomegranate
Behind thy veil.
Thy neck is like the tower of David builded for an armoury.
Whereon they hand a thousand bucklers,
All the shields of the mighty men.
Thy two breasts are like two fawns that are twins of a roe,
Which feed among the lilies.
Until the day be cool, and the shadows flee away,
I will get me to the mountain of Myrrh,
And to the hill of frankincense.
Thou art all fair, my love;
And there is no spot in thee,
Come with me from Lebanon, my bride.

MUSIC:

RISES, THEN AGAIN THE CALL OF THE HORNS

SOUND:

AUTOMOBILE MOVING ALONG BEHIND

JOHN:

(HE IS TWENTY) Afraid?

VICKY:

(SHE IS ABOUT NINETEEN) A little.

JOHN:

Of me?

VICKY:

No.

JOHN:

What?

VICKY:

How soon will we be there?

JOHN:

Half an hour.

VICKY:

Does he know we're coming?

JOHN:

Yes. . . . Why are you afraid?

VICKY:

I just ... am. . . .

JOHN:

Of me.

VICKY:

No. . . .

JOHN:

Tell me!

VICKY:

All right . . . remember when you told them off?

JOHN:

(BLANKLY) Told who off?

VICKY:

It was two years ago -- at school -- that peace at any price meeting.

JOHN:

What's that go to do with--

VICKY:

I fell in love with you then.

JOHN:

What--

VICKY:

I loved you then because you were like one of the prophets of old! You said what you believed, and you said it not caring what happened to you!

JOHN:

Hey, now wait a minute--

VICKY:

No! I want you to hear this! In a little while we'll be together! All right! But how about after that?

JOHN:

What kind of talk is that? Always!

VICKY:

You want to -- and I want to -- but will they let us?

JOHN:

What's this merry-go-round?

VICKY:

Tonight's headlines -- you showed them to me, yourself!

JOHN:

Oh!

VICKY:

Today Poland -- What about us? (HE DOES NOT ANSWER) Tell me, John?

JOHN:

(QUIETLY, SIMPLY) I love you very much. ... I want to be with you. . . . About what you're asking -- I haven't any answers. . . . No one has. . . . There might have been an answer a few years ago if somebody had done something about Fascism and Company then. . . . They didn't. . . . All we can do now is wait.

VICKY:

But I want to know that you'll be with me!

JOHN:

War or peace -- either way there's no answer to that. All I know is you're alongside of me, and in a little while--

VICKY:

(SUDDENLY) John! There's a train!

SOUND:

CAR SLOWING UP

JOHN:

Yes, I saw the signal.

VICKY:

I wasn't sure. . . .

SOUND:

WE HEAR THE TRAIN APPROACHING THE GRADE CROSSING, AND THE BELL OF THE WARNING SIGNAL.

JOHN:

Looks like a fast train.

VICKY:

Yes.

SOUND:

WE HEAR THE LOCOMOTIVE PASS BY, AND THEN THE HEAVY RUMBLE OF CARS

VICKY:

You might as well turn off the engine.

JOHN:

Yes.

SOUND:

THE AUTOMOBILE ENGINE CUTS OFF. NOW WE HEAR ONLY THE DISTANT RUMBLE OF THE FREIGHT CARS PASSING OVER THE CROSSING

JOHN:

Vicky. . . .

VICKY:

Yes? . . .

JOHN:

All these miles, you know what I've been thinking?

VICKY:

What?

JOHN:

About love--

VICKY:

Hm?

JOHN:

-- and loving. That used to mean a girl and a certain line which depended on who she was, and how I felt, and where we were. Then I met you, and it began to mean the way your eyes go wide and then sort of crinkle up when you laugh. The way your voice sounds when you mean something very much . . . the way it gets soft when you care for something very much. . . . The way you walk as if it was wonderful to be a woman. . . . And when I hold you, your lips go soft under mine, and your arms want -- but your eyes are like a little girl's asking me not to hurt you. (HE LAUGHS SOFTLY, RATHER SHAMEFACEDLY) Vicky, you better change your mind. You're marrying the kind of man who makes love before breakfast.

VICKY:

(SOFTLY, TENDERLY) I'll always remember you said these things to me . . . the day we were married.

MUSIC:

BEGINS -- FULL SINGING STRINGS WHICH RISE HAPPILY, THEN END. A NEW THEME BEGINS, A QUIET, OMINOUS ONE WHICH CONTINUES BEHIND.

NARRATOR:

Righteous art Thou, O Lord, when I plead with Thee;
Yet let me talk with Thee of Thy judgments.
Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper?
Wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?
Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root;
They grow, yea, they bring forth fruit;
Thou art near, in their mouth,
And far from their reins.
But Thou, O Lord, knowest me:
Thou hast seen me, and tried mine heart toward Thee;
Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter,
And prepare them for the day of slaughter.
How long shall the land mourn,
And the herbs of every field wither,
For the wickedness of them that dwell therein?

MUSIC:

RISES, THEN ENDS ON THE CALL OF THE FRENCH HORNS.

VICKY:

Baby's sleeping. . . .

JOHN:

Uh . . . huh . . .

VICKY:

Let's talk. I've been afraid to. Now I want to.

JOHN:

Okay. Let's stop calling him snook -- let's call him David. David Adams.

VICKY:

About you, John.

JOHN:

Do you really want me to?

VICKY:

Yes.

JOHN:

All right. ... I wake up in the morning -- I work -- I eat -- I sleep -- once in a while I read -- we go to the movies -- love -- everything's the same. And yet, it -- it's as if it wasn't happening -- I mean really -- any more! With every day it's less and less real! The only things real are the newspaper headlines, the news broadcasts, but not our lives, not here, not anywhere in America! I get this crazy thought -- we're dead, and we're waiting for the Fascists to come over here and bury us!

SOUND:

THE BABY BEGINS TO CRY

JOHN:

I'm sorry.

VICKY:

No -- I -- I guess I was holding him too tight. (SOOTHINGLY TO THE BABY) I'm sorry, darling. Sleep, just sleep.

SOUND:

BABY STOPS CRYING -- GURGLES TIREDLY

JOHN:

(DEFENSIVELY) You wanted me to talk.

VICKY:

(QUIETLY) I wanted you to . . . John, of course I've known what's been wrong.

JOHN:

(FLATLY) Have you?

VICKY:

How quickly babies fall asleep. . . . For the last few years you've been thinking -- and suffering -- at every one of the unbelievable things that have been happening in the world. Because you've understood how everything the Germans have done has been part of a terrible plan!

JOHN:

(BITTERLY) All right! So I'm smart! So what good has it done?

VICKY:

No, you're asking, what good have you done? That's what's wrong with you, John! You've reached the end of just thinking and suffering inside of yourself for people!

JOHN:

(QUIETLY, TENSELY) I think to myself, what if we never wake up? What if the fools win out here, and I never get a chance to fight? Vicky, that's killing me! What if I never get the chance to fight?

VICKY:

Take it now!

JOHN:

Wh-at?

VICKY:

Do what you want to -- now.

JOHN:

How can I?

VICKY:

The baby -- me?

JOHN:

Yes.

VICKY:

I married you for what you were -- and what you're going to be. Maybe this is what you're going to be.

JOHN:

You couldn't get along!

VICKY:

I will.

JOHN:

Vicky--

VICKY:

Your lips. . . .

JOHN:

(AFTER THEY KISS -- HIS HEART IS IN HIS VOICE) Vicky. . . .

SOUND:

EXCITED BANGING ON DOOR, BACK

VICKY:

Who--

SOUND:

BABY BEGINS TO CRY

JOHN:

I'll go see.

SOUND:

BANGING ON DOOR AGAIN, BACK

JOHN:

All right! All right!

SOUND:

BANGING FADES IN -- JOHN APPROACHES DOOR -- HE OPENS IT

JOHN:

What--

NEIGHBOR:

(EXCITEDLY -- SO EXCITEDLY HE CAN HARDLY TALK) Mr. Adams! Mr. Adams! Is your radio on?

JOHN:

No-- What--

NEIGHBOR:

I heard it! I think I just heard it. The Japs -- they're bombing us, someplace! Does that mean we're in the war?

MUSIC:

HITS -- IT PLAYS FOR A SHORT TRANSITION -- THEN FADES OUT -- WE HEAR NOW THE HEAVY THROB OF MOTORS OF INVASION BARGE AS IT MOVES QUIETLY THRU THE WATER AS PART OF A HUGE INVASION FLEET ON THE FIRST ASSAULT ON THE MAINLAND OF EUROPE. THE SOUND CONTINUES BEHIND THE ENTIRE SCENE

CHAPLAIN:

How is it, John?

JOHN:

All right, Chaplain.

CHAPLAIN:

The men?

JOHN:

A few sea-sick. They'll be all right, sir.

CHAPLAIN:

Been waiting a long time for this. . . .

JOHN:

Yes, sir. . . .

CHAPLAIN:

The first invasion barge to get to the continent -- that'll be all right, eh, Captain?

JOHN:

Right, sir.

CHAPLAIN:

You're married, aren't you, John?

JOHN:

Yes, sir.

CHAPLAIN:

Of course -- you showed me a picture of your wife and child. . . . Strange -- ever since we started over the channel all I can remember is -- something from The Book. . . . It's something I used to say to myself back in the days when I doubted whether America would ever wake up to the fight.

"I have trodden the winepress alone;
And of the people there was none with me:
For I will tread them in mine anger,
And trample them in my fury;
And their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments,
And I will stain all my raiment
For the day of vengeance is in mine heart.
And the year of my redeemed is come.
And I looked, and there was none to help;--

SOUND:

HE STOPS AND WE HEAR THE RUMBLE OF THE INVASION BARGE MOTOR AND THE SOUND OF THE WAVES AS THE BOAT MOVES ON

JOHN:

"And I wondered that there was none to uphold;
Therefore mine own arm brought salvation to me;
And my fury, it upheld me."

CHAPLAIN:

You said it, too, eh?

JOHN:

Yes.

CHAPLAIN:

And now the greatest crusade of men in history!

JOHN:

(SIMPLY) I'd call it a prayer.

CHAPLAIN:

I don't quite--

JOHN:

This whole invasion, Chaplain! It is a prayer! A prayer and -- and a promise. A prayer to God to help us destroy the evil -- and a promise to God that once it is destroyed, we'll never let it happen again. I saw a paper from home. There are people saying that the peace is already lost -- that what we win will be destroyed by selfish groups of selfish men! I can't believe that! I won't believe it! I've got faith, Chaplain -- in people -- in the living God that's in them.

VOICE:

(BACK) One more minute, men!

SOUND:

MURMUR OF MEN IN DARK

CHAPLAIN:

(TIGHTLY) I've thought of this minute.

JOHN:

I have, too

SOLDIER:

(FADEIN) Chaplain -- sir . . . will you pray for us?

CHAPLAIN:

Yes -- yes, of course, soldier. No -- John -- you say it.

JOHN:

(HESITANTLY) I -- all right. . . .
Our Father which art in heaven
Hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done--

SOUND:

THE BARRAGE SUDDENLY BEGINS; A TERRIBLE, EAR-CRUSHING ROAR AS THE THOUSANDS OF GUNS OF THE CONVOY BEGIN TO BLAST THE SHORES OF HITLER'S EUROPEAN FORTRESS

MUSIC:

HITS FURIOUSLY, COVERING THE SOUND. WHEN THE MUSIC ENDS, THE CHOIR IS SINGING WITHOUT WORDS, BEHIND:

CHAPLAIN:

Dear Mrs. John Adams: It is a long time since I last wrote you -- a long distance between Normandy and today. Tonight I am writing you and the wives of some of the other men who were in my battalion, because tonight some of the boys for whom I was Chaplain are very close in my memory. I am in Nuremburg, Germany. The trials of the war criminals are about to begin, and there are so many things that I suddenly wanted to say to you who were closest to the boys who gave so much more than we who were left to live. Hundreds of reporters and newsreel photographers who are here will soon be sending back every detail of what some people term the "final vengeance." And then the sentences will be passed, and some of these evil ones will die, and again the words and the pictures will reach all corners of our nation and many, many millions, whose part in this war was small, and many more who have been in it and have sickened of it -- will say, "Well, now it's really -- ended," and close their minds as a book is closed when the last chapter is read.

I cannot believe that if John had lived, he would have considered it ended. For John wasn't fighting Nazis and Japs alone. All his life he had fought evil and so he would have come back to fight the evil yet among us, the evil in our own house. And oh, my dear, how much evil there is -- the great evil that still hates because of color or creed -- the great evil that has come through a war and still looks upon our nation as a personal exploitation. There are some who may say that now that America is on the threshold of great industrial prosperity, it would be best to let events take their natural course. Plan just a little, and muddle through. I don't believe John would have wanted that. As my friend, Dr. Harlow Shapley, said: before the war many of our people were hungry while others destroyed their surpluses; millions were unemployed; women were submerged by customs and lack of opportunity; our young men and women received little systematic training in health or in patriotism. They had small opportunity to travel; people had no thrifty desires to accumulate savings -- indeed they had nothing much to save; we were economically and spiritually confused; research and physical sciences were listless; many diseases were badly controlled if at all; and worst of all, there was little zest for life and liberty, no driving principal or policy to make the citizens from all corners of our country proud to be citizens and brothers under a sun that might illuminate a hopeful future. And then came the most inhuman war in recorded history, and suddenly there was no unemployment: our people as a whole were well-fed and prosperous; the nation was healthier; science leaped across the boundaries of the unknown; people willingly adopted healthful constructive collaboration, and unified determination, and a national spirit of worthy sacrifice. Tonight, as I think of John, I say that if only at war our nation can become great, then let us declare another war -- and choose our enemies, this time, in our own nation -- fight with individual and national vigor against the illiteracy and abysmal ignorance and insecurity which darkens whole sections of our country; fight with industrial and governmental cooperation, even as we did to solve the problem of the atomic bomb, to rid our nation quickly and completely of cancer and tuberculosis and the terrible diseases of the mind which cut short our lives and the lives of those we love.

Yes, a great never-ending excitement-filled crusade against the tyranny of the unknown, giving to each of our lives, in peace-time, a sense of cooperative excitement in living that we had in time of war. A crusade -- yes -- John would have wanted that! ... I keep saying that John would have wanted that. That, of course, is a presumption. And yet I like to think of John living in death even as do the prophets of old who spoke what was in their hearts and minds in the temples and in the market places and on the mount. I like to think that. For John once said to me:

JOHN:

(SOFTLY) I have faith, Chaplain -- in people -- in the living God that's in them.

CHAPLAIN:

And they who have faith in the lowest live everlastingly with the Highest.

MUSIC:

HITS, DOWN AND CONTINUING BEHIND:

NARRATOR:

Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us:
For thou also hast wrought all our works in us.
O Lord our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us
But by thee only will we make mention of thy name.
Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord,
Thou hast increased the nation: thou art glorified;
Thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth.
Thy dead men shall live.
Together with my dead body shall they arise . . .
Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust.

MUSIC:

RISES TO CURTAIN.

ANNCR:

Ladies and gentlemen, you have just heard Mr. Paul Muni in Arch Oboler's play "This Living Book." With Mr. Muni were Elliot Lewis and Barbara Eiler, and Lou Merrill. Included in the cast were Tommy Cook, Irvin Lee, Jack Edwards, Jr., Mary Lansing, Theodore Von Eltz, Bill Johnstone, and Bill Shaw. The original musical score was composed by Gordon Jenkins and conducted by Jack Meakin.

Thanks to Dr. Harlow Shapley, Director of the Harvard Observatory, for material used from his article, "A Design for Fighting," which appeared in the Atlantic Monthly. And now here is Arch Oboler with a few words to conclude this special series.

OBOLER:

Twenty-six weeks have gone quickly. They have been good weeks for me because they have reaffirmed my faith in a system of radio broadcasting that speaks in terms of the world we live in. My deepest gratitude for the opportunity of this half year of radio drama goes to the executives of the Mutual Broadcasting System, particularly to Mr. Wood and Mr. Carlin and to the officials of the Don Lee System. To the little-heralded but talented radio actors, to the musicians, the announcers, and the technicians behind the microphones, a bow. To you, who have listened and sometimes applauded goodbye and thank you.

MUSIC:

DOWN AND CONTINUING BEHIND

ANNCR:

And so concludes the final broadcast of the special twenty-six series of plays written, produced, and directed for the Mutual Broadcasting System by Arch Oboler.

MUSIC:

TO FILL

ANNCR:

THIS IS THE MUTUAL BROADCASTING SYSTEM.