Superman Looking for Kryptonite, Chapter 4 Date: Dec 07 1945 CAST:
ANNOUNCER, Dan McCullough
NARRATOR, Jackson Beck
SUPERMAN / CLARK KENT
BATMAN / BRUCE WAYNE
ROBIN / DICK GRAYSON
SQUEALY EVERSANNOUNCER: Kellogg's Pep, the super-delicious cereal, presents-- NARRATOR: "The Adventures of Superman"! ANNOUNCER: Faster than a speeding bullet! SOUND: GUNSHOT, WITH RICOCHET ANNOUNCER: More powerful than a locomotive! SOUND: TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS, LOCOMOTIVE RUMBLES ANNOUNCER: Able to leap tall buildings at a single bound! SOUND: LOUD RUSH OF AIR ... CONTINUES IN BG NARRATOR: Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! ANNOUNCER: It's a plane! NARRATOR: It's Superman! SOUND: LOUD RUSH OF AIR ... UP AND OUT NARRATOR: (INTENSE) Yes, it's Superman! And today, the Man of Steel is faced with a decision -- the most difficult he has ever had to make! We'll join him at the home of the famous Batman in just a moment! (MORE PLEASANTLY) But right now here's a word from Dan McCullough. ANNOUNCER: You know, it's getting so that whenever two or more kids get together, all they talk about is their collections of comic buttons from packages of Kellogg's Pep. First, there's the business of showing how many you've collected, and then there's trading duplicates to add to your collection. Here's how that works. Suppose you have two buttons with Superman on 'em and your friend has two Moon Mullins buttons. Well, you swap your extra Superman for his extra Moon Mullins -- and then you each have a different button to add to your collection. Fun? Why, I'll say so. And these buttons are all so doggone smart-looking that-- Well, you get a great kick out of wearing 'em pinned on your jacket or your dress or cap for everybody to see. They're bright-colored as can be -- brilliant blue and red and black on a gleaming white background -- and they're just about as big around as a nickel. Now, here's how you get these swell buttons. Just ask Mom to get you plenty of that super-delicious whole wheat-flake cereal, Kellogg's Pep. That's all there is to it! You don't send in either money or a box top. Ya can't even buy these comic buttons anywhere. All you do is to look inside the Pep package for your prize: an exciting new comic button or a military insignia or war plane button. Ask Mom for P-E-P -- Pep! Made by Kellogg's of Battle Creek! Now, "The Adventures of Superman." SOUND: LOUD RUSH OF AIR ... IN AND OUT NARRATOR: Although the Atom Man is dead, Superman is still in mortal danger. Two pieces of Kryptonite, the rare element which gave the Atom Man his deadly atomic power, are in the hands of unknown enemies. Aware that Sidney, the late ally of the Atom Man, had been in contact with the Scarlet Widow, who had stolen the original Kryptonite fragment, Superman searched Sidney's apartment and found a strange coin engraved with a crescent moon and star. The same symbol was later found branded on the heel of a dead Arab who had been in the apartment. Hoping that the famous Batman could help him, Superman, in his guise of Clark Kent, visited the house where Batman and his young companion Robin reside under their true names of Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson. But when Kent asked Wayne to contact Batman, Wayne became suspicious. As we continue now, in his library, Bruce Wayne, alias Batman, and Clark Kent, alias Superman, face one another. Listen. WAYNE: You might just as well come clean, Kent. What makes you think I can contact Batman? KENT: I told you. WAYNE: You said Superman said I could. KENT: Yes. WAYNE: And I said I didn't believe you. Now, tell me the truth or, I'm sorry, I'll have to ask you to leave. KENT: (HESITANT) I-- Well, it's just-- (PAUSE, RESIGNED) All right, Wayne. All right, I'll tell ya. I'm going to reveal a secret which no one else in the world knows -- but which many would pay millions to know. WAYNE: Well, this sounds very interesting. KENT: It is. I've guarded this secret with my very life. But now not only my own life is at stake, but all civilization. I need Batman's help desperately. So I'm going to take you into my confidence and trust you never to betray me. WAYNE: You're giving this secret quite a build-up. What is it? KENT: It's this. (BEAT, VERY HESITANT) You see, Wayne, I-- I-- WAYNE: (BEAT) Yes? KENT: (BEAT) I -- am Superman. WAYNE: (BEAT) What?! KENT: Yes. Yes, I, Clark Kent, am Superman. WAYNE: (CHUCKLES, LIGHTLY) Well, well! What do you know? Superman -- unmasked at last, huh? You, uh, didn't get hit on the head by a brick or something on the way here, did you? KENT: Oh, apparently you don't believe me. WAYNE: Ah, let's just say I'm, uh-- I'm skeptical. KENT: Well, I'll prove it to you. (WITH EFFORT AS HE DISROBES) Here, I wear my costume under my street clothes. There. There we are. Now off with my glasses, like this. WAYNE: (SURPRISED) Say, you do look like Superman. SUPERMAN: (KENT SWITCHES TO DEEP VOICE) Naturally. Because I am. WAYNE: (DOUBLY SURPRISED) Well, now you sound like him, too! SUPERMAN: Naturally again. (BEAT) Well, are you satisfied, Wayne? WAYNE: No, of course not. A good actor can impersonate almost anyone. And costumes are easy to get. SUPERMAN: Oh, I see. Well, then I'll prove it by-- WAYNE: (INTERRUPTS) No, no -- hold on. Let me give you some tests. SUPERMAN: (CHUCKLES) Just in case I've arranged some hocus pocus with mirrors and what-have-you, eh? WAYNE: Er, maybe. Now, look, er -- Superman has X-ray vision, right? SUPERMAN: Right. I can see though anything but lead. WAYNE: Okay. Tell me what I have in my right trousers pocket. SUPERMAN: (CHUCKLES) Oh, that's easy. (SLOWLY, AS IF SQUINTING) A bunch of keys. Two quarters. Let's see now, their dates are Nineteen Hundred and Six and-- Ah, the other one's upside-down. Nineteen Seventeen. SOUND: WAYNE FISHES KEYS AND COINS OUT OF POCKET WAYNE: (AGREES) Mm hm. Two quarters, all right. What did you say their dates were? SUPERMAN: Nineteen Six and Nineteen Seventeen. (BEAT) Right? WAYNE: (QUIETLY ASTONISHED) Yes. SUPERMAN: (CHUCKLES) Are you satisfied now? WAYNE: Er, not quite. You might have, uh-- Uh, don't misunderstand me, but you might-- SUPERMAN: But I might be a sleight-of-hand artist and slipped those coins into your pocket, eh? WAYNE: I didn't say that. SUPERMAN: But you meant it. All right, what's your next test? Let's work fast; my business is urgent. WAYNE: Er, this won't take long if you are Superman. Er, come over here, will you? SUPERMAN: Certainly. What'll it be? WAYNE: Wait till I open this window. SOUND: WINDOW SLIDES OPEN WAYNE: There we are. Now, just one more test. And if you pass it, I'll believe you're Superman. SUPERMAN: Shoot. WAYNE: See that flagpole at the rear of my lawn? SUPERMAN: Yes. WAYNE: It's sixty feet high. Let's see you place this quarter on top of it and return here within three seconds. Or, er, should we call the whole thing off? SUPERMAN: Are you kidding? Step aside, please. WAYNE: Okay. SUPERMAN: Now watch closely. (BEAT) Up! And away! SOUND: LOUD RUSH OF AIR UP AS SUPERMAN ZOOMS AWAY ... BEAT ... LOUD RUSH OF AIR DOWN AS SUPERMAN RETURNS SUPERMAN: There. (DRY) Well, do I pass, teacher? WAYNE: (IMPRESSED) You certainly do! I hope you'll forgive all this waste of time. SUPERMAN: Don't apologize; I don't blame you at all ----- Batman. WAYNE: What?! Then you did know who I was all the time? SUPERMAN: 'Course. Can't you guess how? WAYNE: Why, sure. Your X-ray vision saw through my mask and hood that last time we worked together. SUPERMAN: Uh huh. WAYNE: So that when you saw me today as Bruce Wayne, you recognized me at once. SUPERMAN: That's right. And what's more-- SOUND: DOOR OPENS DICK: (OFF) Well, dust me off and polish my shoes! Superman! SOUND: DOOR CLOSES BEHIND-- SUPERMAN: Hello, Robin. Er, I mean, Dick. WAYNE: Oh! You know who he is, too? SUPERMAN: Uh huh. DICK: (IN CLOSE) What do you mean he knows who I am, too? WAYNE: Er, Superman is on to us, Dick. DICK: Wha--? You mean he knows you--? WAYNE: He knows I'm Batman. DICK: Christopher Columbus! WAYNE: Oh, but that's fair enough. He's told me his other identity. DICK: What?! No kidding?! Who is he? WAYNE: I'm afraid that'll have to remain a secret for the time being, Robin. And now, Superman, you said you needed my help? SUPERMAN: I certainly do. The Atom Man is dead, but-- WAYNE: Ah, thanks to you. DICK: Make those thanks for two. SUPERMAN: Well, I was lucky. He could have finished me if he'd listened to Sidney and stayed with me, keeping me helpless under the influence of the Kryptonite in his blood until I starved to death. DICK: Listen, is it true this - this Kryptonite has the Indian sign on you? SUPERMAN: Yes, Robin, it has. It's a fragment of the former planet Krypton where I was born. But here in the atmosphere of Earth, for some strange chemical reason, I get weak when it's brought within ten feet of me. DICK: Gee [?] WAYNE: Ah, go on, Superman. SUPERMAN: Well, that's the first reason I need your help -- because I can't get near the Kryptonite, and there are two pieces of the original fragment still in existence, in the hands of our enemies. Now, listen closely while I tell you everything that's happened so far-- (FADES OUT) NARRATOR: Speaking swiftly, but omitting no detail, Superman brings Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, who are in reality Batman and Robin, up to date on the story of the Kryptonite. He tells them of the Scarlet Widow and the mysterious Sidney, the late advisor of the Atom Man; of the strange coin found in Sidney's apartment engraved with the symbol of a crescent and star; and of the dead Arab with the same cryptic symbol branded on his right heel. SUPERMAN: (FADES IN) And that's why I have every reason to believe that Sidney was one of the leaders of a powerful secret organization using the symbol of a crescent and star. The Scarlet Widow either belongs to the organization or she has contact with it. WAYNE: And by tracing the organization you think we can locate the Scarlet Widow -- and force her to tell us to whom she sold the last two pieces of Kryptonite, is that it? SUPERMAN: Right. You see, I know you and Robin have a wide knowledge of the underworld. You've fought the big crooks and the hangers-on for years. It's my hunch that somewhere among them we'll pick up a clue to the people we want. Of course, it's a dangerous mission I'm asking you to undertake-- WAYNE: I'm used to danger. You can count on me to do everything I can. SUPERMAN: I knew I could. Thanks loads. DICK: And count me in, too. Blow those bugles and beat those drums! Where do we go from here, Batman? WAYNE: I know exactly where we're going -- and right now! DICK: I'm listening. WAYNE: I'll tell you on the way. I'll contact you later, Superman. Perhaps even tonight. SUPERMAN: You sure you don't want me to go along with you? WAYNE: No, I think Robin and I can do this job better alone. SUPERMAN: All right, but call on me if you need me. You, uh, know how to contact me? WAYNE: (CHUCKLES) You bet I do. SOUND: CLOCK CHIMES FIVE WAYNE: Uh oh. Five o'clock. We've got a lot to do and just one hour to do it in. So long, Superman. SUPERMAN: So long and good luck. You don't mind if I use this window to leave by, do you? WAYNE: Help yourself. SUPERMAN: Righto. (BEAT) Up! And away! SOUND: LOUD RUSH OF AIR ... FADES INTO DISTANCE DICK: Whew! Look at him go. SOUND: DOOR OPENS BEHIND-- WAYNE: We're going places ourselves. Come on! DICK: Lead the way, pappy, and just try to lose me! SOUND: DOOR SLAMS NARRATOR: Followed by the eager Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne hurries from his house and enters his Batmobile car. We'll rejoin them in a moment for the exciting climax of today's episode! But first, here again is your announcer. ANNOUNCER: Say, gang, I know a certain young lady who's mighty fond of her bigger older brother, but she says there never were enough games she and her brother could share in until Kellogg's Pep began putting out those swell new comic buttons. Now they have a lot of fun comparing notes on how many each has collected and swapping duplicates, too. Yes, sir -- both fellows and girls are having a load of fun with these new comic buttons. I've seen a lot of caps and jackets and dresses with the buttons pinned right on 'em! And do they look smart! So bright-colored and shiny that-- Well, they show up like anything. You know, every single one of these new comic buttons has a true-to-life picture of one of your favorite comic strip characters, so you'll want to collect all eighteen of them. You can, too; easy as pie. Just ask Mom to get you a good supply of that super-delicious whole wheat-flake cereal Kellogg's Pep. That's the only way you can get these new comic buttons. You don't send in any money, not even a box top. You can't even buy 'em anywhere. But inside every package of Pep there's an exciting prize -- one of these brilliant new comic buttons or a military insignia or war plane button. Get your prize, gang, from P-E-P, Pep! Made by Kellogg's of Battle Creek! Now back to "The Adventures of Superman"! SOUND: LOUD RUSH OF AIR ... IN AND OUT NARRATOR: On the trail of the two pieces of Kryptonite, Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, who in reality are the famous Batman and Robin, made a brief call at police headquarters and then drove to the shabby waterfront district. Before leaving their car, they disguised themselves as ragged, seedy individuals. And now, caps pulled low over their eyes, they are lounging against some rotting pilings at the street-end of a long pier. SOUND: WATERFRONT BACKGROUND ... WATER, FOG HORNS, ET CETERA NARRATOR: It is early evening, but the fog swirling in from the harbor shrouds the street lamps to pale yellowish blurs. ROBIN: Maybe I'm dumber than usual tonight, Batman, but I don't get it. Why do we want to see a no-good rat like Squealy Evers? BATMAN: It's simple, Robin. He knows what's cooking in every dirty pot in Metropolis. And, for a price, he'll talk. ROBIN: Oh! You figure he might know something about the star and crescent, huh? BATMAN: Not so loud. Yes. ROBIN: But Squealy's so crooked he puts a corkscrew to shame. How can we trust him? BATMAN: We're not going to trust him. We're just going to request a little information. ROBIN: Something tells me we'll get a knife in the back. BATMAN: Stop worrying. Makes wrinkles. ROBIN: That's the way I want to die -- old and wrinkled. BATMAN: (AMUSED, LIGHTLY) Scared, Mr. Grayson? ROBIN: No, not scared. I've just got a yen to see the sun come up tomorrow. BATMAN: It will come up. ROBIN: Sure, but I want to see it! I-- BATMAN: Button up. Button up; here he comes. ROBIN: Who? BATMAN: Squealy, of course. And right on time. SOUND: SQUEALY'S FOOTSTEPS APPROACH FROM OFF ... IN BG BATMAN: He always makes this beat around six o'clock. ROBIN: What if he sees through these rags and catches on who we are? BATMAN: Quiet now. Here he is. (UP) Er, Squealy? SQUEALY: (STARTLED GASP) Huh? SOUND: FOOTSTEPS STOP BATMAN: Hello, Squealy. SQUEALY: Yeah? What do you want? BATMAN: A little information. SQUEALY: Who are you? BATMAN: Oh, er, my name is George Robinson. ROBIN: I'm, er, his brother Jack. You know-- BATMAN: Cut it out. SQUEALY: You a cop? BATMAN: No, but, er, I've got two hundred dollars. SQUEALY: Let's see it. BATMAN: Here. Here it is. Nice and fresh. (QUICKLY) Uh-uh-uh; mustn't touch. ROBIN: Pretty little cabbage leaves, aren't they, Squealy? SQUEALY: What do you want to know? BATMAN: Whatever you can tell us -- about this coin. SQUEALY: What the--?! The crescent and star?! Where'd you get this? BATMAN: What's the difference? What do you know about it? For two hundred bucks. Can you help us? SQUEALY: Yeah. Yeah, I can help ya. BATMAN: You can? SQUEALY: Yeah, I can help you a lot. BATMAN: All right, Squealy. Start talking. SOUND: WATERFRONT BACKGROUND UP AND OUT BEHIND-- NARRATOR: Eagerly, Batman and Robin wait for the stooped, ferret-faced man to speak as the gray fog swirls around them. What will he tell them? And will it lead our friends to the mysterious organization they seek? And to the missing Kryptonite? MONDAY'S EPISODE IS TENSE AND EXCITING, FELLOWS AND GIRLS! SO DON'T MISS IT! Tune in, same time, same station, as Batman and Robin combine with the Man of Steel to stave off the greatest threat ever directed at the world -- in "The Adventures of Superman"! ANNOUNCER: Faster than a speeding bullet! SOUND: GUNSHOT, WITH RICOCHET ANNOUNCER: More powerful than a locomotive! SOUND: TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS, LOCOMOTIVE RUMBLES ANNOUNCER: Able to leap tall buildings at a single bound! SOUND: LOUD RUSH OF AIR ... CONTINUES IN BG NARRATOR: Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! ANNOUNCER: It's a plane! NARRATOR: It's Superman! SOUND: LOUD RUSH OF AIR ... UP AND OUT BEHIND-- ANNOUNCER: Fellows and girls, be sure to follow "The Adventures of Superman," brought to you every day, Monday through Friday, same time, same station, by the grand old Kellogg Company of Battle Creek! And, for other thrilling adventures of Superman, see your local newspaper. Superman is also a copyrighted feature, appearing in Superman-DC publications. Say, gang, get a load of this. Kellogg's Variety is back. That's the famous variety carton of six swell Kellogg's cereals in ten separate packages. Makes breakfast more fun than a picnic. With Kellogg's Variety on the table, you can choose among Kellogg's Rice Krispies, Pep, Corn Flakes, Shredded Wheat, Crumbles, and Bran Flakes! Simply help yourself to your favorite. Each box holds a fresh, crisp, heaping portion. So ask Mom to get Kellogg's Variety right away. And be sure to be with us on Monday for the thrilling adventures of Superman. And remember -- it's Pearl Harbor Day! And buy Victory Bonds! This is the Mutual Broadcasting System.