Christopher Bell, a man of 52, climbs the west face of the Shallyock glacier in the Swiss Alps, hanging beneath an overhang with his strength failing. The Escape episode Action, from the series Escape, first aired on 1949-07-21. Joseph Kearns plays Mr. Bell, with Maria Palmer among the cast. Through a series of encounters, the story traces Bell's recent past, from his decision to hand over his London business to his employee, to the strange change in his manner before he left England. His reasons for coming to the mountains begin to emerge as he is drawn back toward life.
Characters: Christopher Bell, Jean Vazure, Madame Gaspard, Matthew, John Huxford, Jenkins, Dr. Garland, Anna Garland
The transcript of “071- Action -Joseph Kearns”, an episode of Escape first broadcast July 21, 1949. Press a time to play from that line (a 60-second preview; Potato Plus plays it all). Escape plays Escape free, live around the clock. Search inside this transcript.
Transcript
Suspense, which is usually heard at this hour on Thursday nights, is taking its customary summer holiday. Suspense returns to the air six weeks from tonight on Thursday, September 1st. We're hanging by your fingertips on the sheer face of an icy cliff.
Suspended a thousand feet above instant death, with your strength running out, and with no chance for escape. We offer you escape, designed to free you from the four walls of today for a half hour of high adventure.
Tonight we escape to the cold loneliness of a glacier high in the Swiss Alps, and to a man who learned much about death, as C.E. Maudigue tells it in his famous story, action. High in the Swiss Alps, well above 12,000 feet, a man plings with desperation to the frozen glass wall of the shally-ock glacier,
Hands and feet jammed in the shallow steps, chopped in the iron hard ice. A cold wind drives a spray of dusty sleet along the overhanging wall, and the sun has fallen away among the cranks to the west.
Darkness lies one hour ahead. The man has climbed with painful care a thousand feet up the glacious face from the broken moraine at the foot, and has moved now on hold the underside of a great bulge in the ice, a part of the wall which breaks out beyond the perpendicular.
And the man is forced to hang from slots cut by his axe, such as a sloth hangs from a tree branch. Twelve more feet lie between him and the brow of the overhang, six more steps to be chopped out with the axe, and a thousand feet of void space waits beneath him.
…
You see, she's quite a talented actress. Escape is produced and directed by Norman McDonald. Tonight we have presented action by C.E. Montague, adapted for radio by Les Crutchfield.
Featured in the cast were Joseph Kearns as Mr. Bell, with Maria Palmer, Wilms Herbert, Ben Wright, Jeff Corey, Tudor Owen and Bill Johnstone. Special music arranged and conducted by Wilbur Hatch. Next week, you are trapped in the native quarter of Mozambique with the police closing in on you, while at your feet lie to dead men,
and standing beside you is a sultry girl who offers you escape. MUSIC Next week we escape with a gripping story by Perciful Gibbon entitled Second Class Passenger. Be with us next week at the same time, when once again we offer you escape.
And now stay tuned for Casey, Crime Photographer, to hear the story of durable Dennis. It'll be along in just a few moments on most of these same CBS stations. This is Tip Corning speaking. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.
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