DOC SAVAGE Program Number One "The Red Death" (Adapted from DOC SAVAGE MAGAZINE) CAST DOC SAVAGE.........Deep, cultured voice. MONK...............Small, almost ludicrously falsetto. HAM................Harvard accent. JOHNNY.............Precise, scholastic voice. LONG TOM...........Southern drawl. RENNY..............Roaring, tough-guy voice. KING CHAAC.........Powerful voice, uncertain English. PRINCESS MONJA.....Deep voice, warm, slightly uncertain English. BUSINESS: 1--Rapid gun fire. 2--Machine gun. 3--Low-throated bird whistle trilling. 4--Gong. 5--Door. 6--Click of light switch. 7--Humming. 8--Explosion. 9--Crash of glass. 10--Squeak of roller shade. 11--Padded footsteps. 12--Scuffle. 13--Sound of bodies hitting floor. 14--Sound of Aeroplane. 15--Tom toms. 16--Shriek and cry of natives. Playing Time: 15 minutes. Script by Lester Dent (Kenneth Robeson) EFFECT: (RAPID GUN FIRE. MACHINE GUN--FOLLOWED BY LOW-THROATED BIRD WHISTLE TRILLING.) ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen, tonight we present--for the first time on any wave-length--thrilling adventures in the life of Doc Savage...the man of bronze with golden eyes, the man whose name is a byword in the far corners of the world. Doc Savage possesses super-human strength and super-human intelligence. He has dedicated his life to fighting for right. Tonight, in Doc Savage's sumptuously furnished offices on the 86th floor of a New York skyscraper, we find his five scrappy companions. They are Monk, with the ugliness and strength of a gorilla. Renny, known throughout the world for his engineering ability. Johnny, an expert on geology and archeology. Ham, probably the most astute lawyer Harvard ever turned out. And Long Tom, the electrical wizard. Three of these five, Monk, Ham and Renny, are awaiting the arrival of Doc Savage. EFFECT: (GONG) MONK: You sure you got the right time, Ham? HAM: Certainly. Doc said for us to meet him here at midnight. MONK: Then we ain't got long to wait. HAM: How'd Doc look, Renny? HowĠd he take his father's death? RENNY: He feels all cut up about it. MONK: I bet it hit him hard. Doc's got muscles of steel and skin of bronze, but actually he's about the most human guy I know. HAM: Yeah--and he and his father were great pals. RENNY: Doc Savage Senior was a remarkable man. HAM: But our Doc is greater by far. RENNY: You're right, Ham. No one in the world like him. MONK: I always flattered myself that I had rather prodigious strength. But Doc...well, he can tie me in knots. RENNY: Yes, and he knows more about chemistry than you do, Monk. MONK: And more of engineering than you. HAM: Well, I'll admit he knows more about law than I do. And while Johnny is said to be the leading geologist and archeologist in the country, I will wager that Doc Savage is more than his match, even in his own field. He knows more electricity than Long Tom, the electrical wizard, too. MONK: Where are Long Tom and Johnny? HAM: They'll be around later. I think they're tuning up Doc's plane out at the Long Island airport. EFFECT: (BIRDLIKE WHISTLING SOUND) RENNY: Hear that! That's Doc's signal. Here he comes! EFFECT: (PAUSE) (DOOR) SAVAGE: Hello, men. ALL: Hello, Doc. HAM: We all feel that... SAVAGE: Yes, I know, Ham. HAM: Your father's death, Doc, we're sorry. SAVAGE: Thanks. I wish I had been here. RENNY: We tried to get you in every way. MONK: Seemed as if you'd been taken off the face of the earth, Doc, we couldn't locate you. SAVAGE: I was up in the Arctic regions. HAM: Oh--up in your Fortress of Solitude studying, eh? No wonder we couldn't get you. SAVAGE: Yes. Was there anything strange about my father's death? RENNY: We are not certain. HAM: I, for one, am certain. SAVAGE: What do you mean, Ham? HAM: Only a hunch, Doc, but I'm right! I know I am! SAVAGE: Exactly what did the doctors say caused death? RENNY: The doctors didn't know. It was a new one on them. SAVAGE: What do you mean, Renny? RENNY: Your father broke out with queer circular red patches on his neck. . . two days later he was--dead. SAVAGE: You're the chemist in this outfit, Monk, what have you got to say? MONK: I made all kinds of tests for poison and germs, but didn't find a thing. SAVAGE: As a lawyer, what do you think, Ham? HAM: We have no facts upon which to base suspicions but we're suspicious anyway...by the way, Doc, what happened to your safe? SAVAGE: I found it broken into when I came back. MONK: Kinda looks like an explosive was used to tear the lock off the door. SAVAGE: There is no doubt about it, Monk. MONK: What flubdubs me is--who broke into it and why? SAVAGE: They wanted something my father had in the safe. HAM; Could it have any connection with your father's death? SAVAGE: It could and has. See here? The safe has been rifled. HAM: Anything missing, Doc? SAVAGE: Yes, a packet of old papers. They were my father 's. He had never mentioned the contents to me. RENNY: Any clue to what they were about? SAVAGE: Yes, this note. MONK: What does it say? SAVAGE: It refers to a heritage my father left to me. RENNY: A heritage! What is it, Doc? SAVAGE: I don't know, the portion which would have given me that information was burned off. The remaining part of the explanation reads as follows: "Some twenty years ago, in company with Hubert Robertson, I went on an expedition to Hidalgo, in Central America, to investigate the report of a prehistoric..." That's all. The rest of the paper is only a burned edge. HAM: The thing to do is to get hold of Hubert Robertson! I'll phone him at once. SAVAGE: No use, Ham, you won't get him! HAM: Why not? SAVAGE: Hubert Robertson is dead. (PAUSE) He died with red marks on his neck--exactly like my father, and at the same time. RENNY: That knocks our chances of finding out what this heritage is. SAVAGE: Not entirely. This violet ray machine I rigged up here may help us. MONK: You're pointing it at the window, Doc. SAVAGE: Quite right, Monk. That window is the place where my father and I used to leave secret messages for one another. I think he knew he was dying and left a message for me. MONK: What do you know about that! What did you write with? SAVAGE: A special ink, invisible to the naked eye, but not to the violet rays. MONK: I'll bet you discovered the formula for the ink, didn't you, Doc? SAVAGE: Very simple, Monk. Now keep your eyes on the window, boys. I'm going to put out these lights. EFFECT: (CLICK OF LIGHT SWITCH) SAVAGE: Now that it's dark, I'll turn on the violet ray, and we'll see what happens. BIZ: (HUMMING SOUND . . . LOW AT FIRST THEN INCREASE AND HOLD UNTIL CUE TO CUT) MONK: Well, I'll be. . . look at them words appear. RENNY: Luminous writing on the window! MONK: What does it say? Something important. SAVAGE: Very. It tells where. . . Now just a moment--IĠll lower the rays and we'll see if there is anything more. BIZ: (EXPLOSION AND CRASH OF GLASS . . . CUT HUM) HAM: Someone pegged a shot at us, Doc...Who got it? SAVAGE: No one. Lie flat on the floor, all of you. That was no ordinary rifle bullet from the sound of it! Someone didn't want us to read that message on thewindow. BIZ: (EXPLOSION) SAVAGE: Another one! Stay down! Where there's two, there's three! BIZ: (EXPLOSION) RENNY: Right you were, Doc, right you were. BIZ: (SQUEAKING OF ROLLER SHADE) MONK: Someone's at the window! SAVAGE: Keep your shirt on, Monk. I'm pulling down the shade. (DOOR BANG) Now into the next room, all of you, quick. HAM: What is up, Doc? SAVAGE: Someone just left this room. He is pussy-footing down the hall to the office door. Let's get set to receive our visitor. RENNY: What a welcome he'll get if he comes. SAVAGE: Quiet, all of you. Don't move until you get my signal. Then one of you turn on the lights. (LOWER VOICE) He's back at the door, now! BIZ: (DOOR BEING SLOWLY OPENED FOLLOWED BY PADDED FOOTSTEPS HOLD UNTIL CUE TO CUT) SINISTER VOICE: Tonight death strikes! It is the will of the Feathered Serpent! BIZ: (CUT FOOTSTEPS...FOLLOW IMMEDIATELY WITH SOUND OF SCUFFLE. SOUND OF BODIES STRIKING FLOOR.) EFFECT: (BIRDLIKE WHISTLE) ALL: Lights! BIZ: (SOUND OF LIGHT SWITCH) MONK: How'd you get him, Doc--I couldn't even hear him. SAVAGE: He was after that paper. Take him, Monk. MONK: Sure. I'll pull off his ears an' feed 'em to him if he doesn't come clean! SAVAGE: Too late for that, Monk. . .Look at him! MONK: (YELLS) He's dead! SAVAGE: Yes. He knew he was trapped and used his knife as soon as my hand touched him. HAM: What a knife! RENNY: I have never seen one like it before. MONK: He used it to good purpose. HAM: Yes. He knew he'd be made to talk. SAVAGE: Notice the tips of his fingers. Dyed a deep red. It might surprise you to know that this man is a Mayan. RENNY: One of a long lost civilization. Red fingers-- SAVAGE: And red death-marks on my father's neck. What's that on the floor, Monk? MONK: A red envelope! SAVAGE: Give it to me. A warning. Listen to this! "Doc Savage: Turn back your quest, lest the Red Death strike you as it did your father." Signed: "TheFeathered Serpent." RENNY: I'll bet this fellow knew something about what your father was leaving you. SAVAGE: Undoubtedly. But we'll all know in a few minutes. HAM: What do you mean? SAVAGE: The writing on the window gave me a clue I've been looking for. RENNY: Gosh, I didn't have time to read it before that shot smashed the window pane. HAM: Neither did I. MONK: What'd it say, Doc? SAVAGE: It read: "Look for papers behind red brick and--" There was more but the fellow's quick gun shot prevented our reading it. MONK: Worse luck. What red brick? RENNY: Yeah, that's like looking for a needle in a haystack. SAVAGE: Maybe not--bring the violet ray machine into the next room Monk. Come on, fellows. EFFECT: (GONG) MONK: What's this room, Doc? SAVAGE: The private laboratory where my father and I worked together. RENNY: What a place! HAM: And what a lot of red bricks. The floor is paved with them. RENNY: Do you think that message referred to one of these bricks, Doc? SAVAGE. I am positive that it did. MONK: Don't you want the message your Dad left for you? SAVAGE: Yes, but there is an easier and quicker way to find the right brick than to rip up the floor. MONK: How? SAVAGE: I'll show you. Turn off the lights. EFFECT: (CLICK OF LIGHT SWITCH FOLLOWED IMMEDIATELY BY LOW HUM... GRADUALLY INCREASING IN INTENSITY. HOLD UNTIL CUE TO CUT.) MONK: Well, what do you know! SAVAGE: There we are, boys. Look at that one luminous red glow in the middle of the floor. That's the brick we want. I'll put my finger on it, then you can switch on the lights... O.K. BIZ: CLICK OF LIGHT SWITCH AND CUT HUM) MONK: Lemme take it out for you, Doc. Um--can't budge it. That's there to stay. SAVAGE: Just a moment, Monk. There--there it is. MONK: How'd you do that? SAVAGE: Touched this little spring--see--at the corner of the brick and that released it. MONK: Didn't see it at all. RENNY: What's in it, Doc? What's behind the brick? Anything? SAVAGE: A packet of papers. HAM: About the inheritance? SAVAGE: Yes, printed in Spanish. They are a concession from the government of Hidalgo, giving me several hundred square miles of land. This, gentlemen, is what the Mayan was after when he inflicted the Red Death on my father. RENNY: Without a doubt. That's why they blew up your safe, too. HAM: And they tried to get Doc so he wouldn't lay any claim to this Hidalgo property. MONK: It must be valuable. RENNY: Yeah, the natives there--those red-fingered fellows--must want to hold on to it. SAVAGE: Yes, the answer to the mystery lies in Hidalgo. I think our course is clear. MONK: You mean that's where we're going? SAVAGE: Right. (FADING) We're off for the airport. EFFECT: (GONG) SAVAGE: Hello, Johnny. Hello, Long Tom. TOM & JOHNNY: Greetings, Doc. SAVAGE: Is the plane ready? JOHNNY: All tuned up. SAVAGE: Got your electrical equipment together, Long Tom? LONG TOM: Sure. SAVAGE: Yours is the chemical department, Monk. MONK. O.K. I got my portable laboratory. Believe it or not, it's all in these suitcases. SAVAGE: Johnny, as usual, you're our geologist and archeologist. JOHNNY: Certainly. SAVAGE: Well, we're on our way to find out what it's all about. RENNY: You bet, Doc, and we're with you. MONK: And I hope there will be a good scrap. I'm aching for a good scrap. SAVAGE: You'll probably get your wish, Monk. HAM: Which way do we go, Doc? SAVAGE: Across the Gulf of Mexico, then south along the coast of Central America. EFFECT: (GONG) (SOUND OF AEROPLANE IN AIR) BIZ: (RHYTHMIC BEATING OF TOM TOMS IN DISTANCE CONTINUES CLOSER THROUGHOUT SCENE. APPROACHING PLANE CUTS IN OVER TOM TOMS, LANDS, MOTOR STOPS.) HAM: That was some flight! LONG TOM: Feels great to be on the ground again. RENNY: What's that noise? SAVAGE: That, Renny, is the native band coming to greet us. RENNY: How do you know? SAVAGE: I saw them in the dense foliage as we came down. JOHNNY: I hope they will be friendly. MONK: That noise don't sound friendly to me. HAM: Me either--sounds like a native funeral dirge. It's coming nearer. LONG TOM: Are you sure this is the right part of Hidalgo, Doc? SAVAGE: Renny is our navigator. What do you say, Renny? RENNY: Latitude and longitude are exactly right. SAVAGE: Look, fellows! ALL: Where? What? SAVAGE: Don't get excited. Look at the foliage to your right. MONK: Hands! LONG TOM: Red-tipped fingers. You can see them from here. RENNY: Yes, we're in the right place, all right. The home of the Mayan race. EFFECT: (TOM TOMS LOUDER) JOHNNY: Well, for a lost civilization, these fellows seem very much alive. HAM: They don't seem to like our looks. MONK: I'm gonna meet 'em with a machine gun in each hand! SAVAGE: Wait, Monk! We don't want to start anything. MONK: For the love of comedy, look at that fellow out front in the serpent's costume with a mask and feathers on his head. What a rig! SAVAGE: He's made up to resemble the Feathered Serpent! EFFECT: (TOM TOMS STOP) HAM: He's stirring up trouble if you ask me. SAVAGE: Yes--they have some guns; duck fellows--get behind these trees before they open fire. RENNY: Come back here, Doc. You're not going out there among those natives bare-handed, are you? SAVAGE: Don't worry about me. HAM: Look at that big fellow attack him. RENNY: Yeah, and look at Doc pick him up and lift him over his head. EFFECT: (LOUD SHRIEK AND RISING CRY FROM NATIVES) MONK: That's stoppin' 'em. The way Doc hurled that half-bird, half-snake guy and knocked a bunch of 'em down like so many ten-pins. JOHNNY: What's he taking out of his shirt? HAM: It's that Mayan knife the fellow killed himself with back in Doc's office. JOHNNY: And have they got their eyes on him? MONK: They've lowered their weapons. They see that knife in his upraised hands. RENNY: The knife seems to have some tribal significance. It's a charm! JOHNNY: That Feathered Serpent leader had turned tail and run--see him go. SAVAGE: (IN DISTANCE CALLING) Come on, fellows, we're going to hunt up the chief of these Mayans. EFFECT: (GONG) KING CHAAC:I am King Chaac of the Mayans, and I bid you welcome, Doctor Clark Savage, Junior. SAVAGE: It surprises me very much that you know me, King Chaac. KING CHAAC:I can dispel your curiosity. Your father was a very good friend to me; it was he who saved my life twenty years ago and taught me your language. I have been expecting you. SAVAGE: You knew I was coming? KING CHAAC:Indeed, you come in search of the inheritance your father left to you. I know of his death, and am much grieved over it. SAVAGE: Can you tell me just where the land is located? KING CHAAC:The very land we are standing on is part of it. SAVAGE: So this is it. KING CHAAC:By right of inheritance, it is yours. But you cannot gain possession of it without trouble from the red-fingered tribe. There is gold here, a great deal of gold. The red fingered tribe wish to obtain the gold and finance a revolution against me. SAVAGE: So! That's the reason they were so eager to prevent my coming here. KING CHAAC:Have you already had interference from them? MONK: Have we? Plenty! RENNY: Say--where's this gold? I don't see any. KING CHAAC:That will be shown to you within thirty days. SAVAGE: Thirty days? May we know the reason for the wait, King Chaac? KING CHAAC:That I do not care to disclose. In the meantime, you gentlemen will be shown to quarters that will be your home until you can go into the golden pyramid. PRINCESS: (APPROACHING) Oh, father! A man of bronze with golden eyes flew into Hidalgo. KING CHAAC:Yes, my daughter, Doctor Savage is here--with his friends. PRINCESS: Oh! SAVAGE'S MEN:(ASIDE) What a peach' Take a look at her' Boy, she's a beauty. MONK: Boy, I wish she'd size me up like she's looking at Doc. KING CHAAC:This is my daughter, Princess Monja. (PRONOUNCED ''MONYA") ALL: How do you do? Hello, Princess. PRINCESS: It is very lovely to have you gentlemen as our guests. Doctor Savage, may I show you some of the lovely things here in Hidalgo? SAVAGE: Thank you, Princess. PRINCESS: (FADING) Come with me. LONG TOM: It looks to me as though we're getting into a new kind of trouble. RENNY: Leave it to Doc. I have yet to see the woman who can get her clutches in him. HAM: Yeah, he just looks at her with those golden eyes of his and they fall for him. MONK: But don't worry, he's not interested. He's just polite to 'em. EFFECT: (SHOUTING OF NATIVES--TOM TOMS) LONG TOM: What does that mean? KING CHAAC:It is the warriors of the red-fingered tribe and they are doing the Dance of the Red Death. RENNY: What kind of dance is that? KING CHAAC:It means the Red Death is soon to strike my people. It always means that. RENNY: The Red Death' That's what killed Doc's father. EFFECT: (RAPID GUN FIRE) RENNY: Those natives have started firing. LONG TOM: Where's Doc? EFFECT: (GONG) ANNOUNCER: Yes, where is Doc Savage? Will he get his inheritance of gold in Hidalgo, or will the native gun fire and Red Death get him and his five scrappy pals? Listen next week at this time, and you will hear another in a series of the thrilling adventures in the life of Doc Savage, the bronze man with the golden eyes.