Standard of California, on behalf of independent Chevron gas stations and standard stations
throughout the West, invite you to let George do it.
Another adventure of George Valentine.
Personal notice.
Danger is my stock and trade.
If you're up against something over your head and need help that's strictly confidential,
you've got a job for me, George Valentine.
Like full details.
Mr. Valentine, let's see if you're as good as your ad says.
I am up against something that's over my head.
A river.
The river my company's trying to push a tunnel under.
But we're getting nowhere fast.
I hate to think what the reason might be.
If you figure you can help.
I assure you we won't haggle about price.
It's signed William Kane, president.
Kane and Bowers tunnel construction, huh?
Now I wonder where I could find a diving suit with a new look.
Now seriously, Brooksy, you must mean the West End tunnel.
The one they're having all the trouble with breakthroughs and cave in.
I could drop in at the Globe Department Store.
Okay, Angel, okay.
But this seems like a job for an engineer, not for me.
Well, there's still no harm in talking to the nice man who insists he's not going to
haggle about price.
Well, as long as you insist on being mercenary, let's get going.
Valentine, you don't know how much it means to a former Sandhog like me to wind up building
his own tunnel.
I think I can imagine, Mr. Kane.
He's like a kid with a chemistry set.
Suddenly finding out he's discovered the atomic bomb.
I realize this tunnel project's a pretty big thing, and you've had more than your share
of hard luck.
Yeah, way more than my share.
What did you mean in your letter that you hate to think what the reason for these accidents
might be?
Well, I suppose I gotta tell you.
Oh, now look, Kane, if it comes that hard, maybe you want this letter back so we can forget
the whole thing.
No, no, it's just that it's tough putting it into words.
Yeah?
Yeah.
Well, I'm a partner, Jim Bowers.
We drove tunnel all over the world.
Started as muckers shoveling mud and slime.
Got to be miners together.
Use dynamite and drills when you didn't even know what was going to happen next under the
river.
You'd think you'd get to know a guy after going through all that with him.
Well, let's be blunt and put it this way, Kane.
You suspect your partner, Bowers, is holding up the works here, is that it?
Yeah, but I gotta be sure.
What makes you suspect him at all?
I found out that the company we outbid to get this job made Jim a big offer to come
with them.
But if he's a partner here, what's the percentage for him in a deal like that?
Well, Jim's always resented that I'm better suited to run the front office up here while
he has to work with the men.
Oh, I get it.
So if he could botch up this job, we lost it to the Cameron Construction Company.
They'd take him in there as a big shot.
Well, you certainly must have talked this over with Mr. Bowers.
Yeah, I did miss, and they said that they turned the Cameron offer down flat.
But how can I be sure?
Now all these accidents.
With Bowers always on the spot to make them happen, if that's what he wanted.
Eh, frankly, Valentine, I don't even know how you can help me.
Sandhogs are a clannish crowd.
You can't go wandering around down that tunnel snooping around.
Mr. Kane, suppose you'll let me give it some thought.
Uh, George.
Yeah, Brooksie?
How'd you like to buy a Princeton?
Okay, Brooksie, I'll buy.
Well, for instance, if you were a reporter and I were a photographer, we could be doing
a story for a national magazine.
That would get us down into the tunnel to snoop.
Say, that might be an idea, that.
Then you could look around.
I'll tell Sanders to expect it.
Oh, now wait a minute.
Hey, look, Brooksie, that's a good for instance, all right.
But this business of we...
Of course I meant we.
Why do you think I came up with the idea?
Okay, okay, you arrange it, Kane.
I think we're gonna take a crack at it.
Just how far down does this elevator go, Mr. Sanders?
About 30 feet, miss.
Oh, well, that's not too bad, is it, George?
Oh, no, no.
Oh, that part of it's all right.
I'm thinking of what happens later.
What are you so smug about?
What do you know that I don't know?
You want to tell the lady what happens next, mister?
Well, miss, it's getting into the tunnel that you've got to worry about.
Oh?
There'll be about 40 pounds of pressure per square inch on you down there.
That's why when we get to the bottom, you still gotta sit a half hour in the man lock.
Man lock?
What's that?
It's kind of a sealed up room, miss.
We keep shooting pressure into that while you just sit.
That's so it ain't so bad for you when you get into tunnel.
Get it?
I got it.
To put it more concisely, my sweet, unless they're very, very careful, the pressure of
the river would come down on you and flatten you out like a jellyfish.
Oh, lovely thought.
Well, here we are.
Hey, Charlie, come here.
We got visitors, a reporter and a young lady to take pictures.
Oh, visitors, huh?
Yeah, it's okay, Mr. Cain knows about it.
In that case, I'd better sit in the lock with them.
Yeah, you better warn the boys.
Put their shirts on.
Yeah, I'll do it.
I'll do it.
I'll do it.
I'll do it.
I'll do it.
I'll do it.
I'll do it.
I'll do it.
I'll do it.
I'll do it.
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,
ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha
Okay.
All right.
Step in.
Thank you.
Hey, looks like a bank vault.
Yeah, almost.
Important thing is to seal it airtight.
You'll see what I mean when I close this door.
George, what's that?
Huh?
What's that?
That's the air from the tunnel coming in through this valve, lady.
When the pressure in here is the same as it is out there, that big door opens by itself.
Then you're ready to go on to the river.
Won't you sit down, Miss Brooks?
Yeah, it usually takes about a half hour.
Oh.
There's just about a minute more now.
You all right, Berksy?
Well, I'm just swell.
But my ears.
It's even worse coming out.
You're in too much of a hurry, that's when you can get the chokes and the bends.
Nothing like having things to look forward to.
You'll have to put these little metal tags around your neck.
What are these, Charlie?
All sandhogs wear them, just in case you're found staggering around.
Tells the cops not to throw you in with the drunks, but to rush you back here to this
decompression chamber.
They don't waste much time, you'll probably live.
Oh, goody.
You sound like an old sandhog yourself, Charlie.
You can't stay away from tunnels, huh?
Old Mr. Valentine, I'm just like Jack Benny, I'm still 38.
I was the same age when I helped build the Holland Tunnel back east.
Just got out here a few months ago.
That's that.
There goes the door.
It's okay for you to go into the tunnel now.
All right.
Come on, Berksy.
Oh, it's like the inside of a furnace in here.
But there's all this nice water to slush through.
That ought to help keep cool things off.
George.
You can still put your bank in there with Charlie.
Oh, no.
I was just thinking of my nylons.
Let's go.
Okay, everybody clear.
We're blasting.
Blasting, George.
All right, Hagen.
All right, let us know when you're ready.
All right, let us know when you're ready.
All right, let us know when you're ready.
All right, let us know when you're ready.
All right, let us know when you're ready.
All right, let us know when you're ready.
How the 연 salad go up to the other?
Where'd you two come from?
You Bowers.
What are you doing down here?
With a girl.
Bring me more trouble.
Trouble?
Look.
Mr.한es said it was all right for me to do a story about the tunnel.
The young lady is here to take the pictures.
Story?
All of cane got to think of down there?
I'd like to go up and tell him a...
Power.
break through at the tunnel head.
What?
Yes, bad this time.
The scaffolding came down with a lot of guys on it.
Ah, scaffolding can come down on every job.
Young Davis is down there,
caught under all that rock and sand.
We gotta get him out.
I'll get the ambulance, Hagen.
But you get back there.
I'll set that break, go on.
Davis wouldn't be there now, bars.
If you sent that gang up tunnel far enough
when the blasts come off.
Look, Sandhawd, don't tell me how to build a tunnel.
I'll tell you anything I want.
Okay, if you wanna bite down.
Ah, pick yourself up and do what I said.
Okay, reporter, there's a story.
How we lost another day.
Yeah, what about the man you just lost?
This is one accident they won't blame on me.
A woman in the tunnels are worse jinxers.
Kane knows that.
I gotta phone upstairs for an ambulance.
Well, I see the two partners are working late tonight.
That's good.
Oh, Valentine.
Did you get a good story out of that accident today?
Now look, let's stop kidding each other.
You know I'm not a reporter, bars.
I wasn't born yesterday.
I know Kane had you checking on me.
Why shouldn't I?
You know we can't go on much longer this way
and you're in charge.
A little bribe from the Cameron Company and you.
Another crack like that and I'll fix you.
Don't you, break it up boys, break it up.
Let me do some talking.
What I have to say will be short and to the point.
Yeah?
Yeah, I did some checking today.
Bowers isn't the only one who might profit
by these accidents.
You could too Kane.
Huh, what are you talking about?
Let's hear some more.
I had a talk with a city engineer.
He said he doesn't know how you can do this job
on the bid you put up.
Yeah, well I admit I was figuring close to the line,
but we would have made it if things went right.
Ah, so the boy in the stiff shirt
comes up with another bad deal, huh?
And Kane, you had the foresight to take out insurance
to protect you in case you went broke building this tunnel.
Well, that's a natural precaution.
Oh yeah, but it was a personal insurance policy
taken out in your name, not for the firm.
What's that Jim?
I know how you've been spending money,
so I paid the premiums,
but I was only thinking of the company.
Well here's what I'm thinking Kane.
The insurance company would pay off
if none of these accidents could be traced to you
and you'd be saved from ruinous, from a ruinous bid.
Yeah, but that's how it might look.
Look Chairman, look, if there's one thing I don't like,
it's to be kitted along.
Now, do you still want me to find out
what's behind those accidents?
I have nothing to fear Valentine.
That's why I hired you.
I know I'm clean.
You're right ahead Valentine.
Okay, okay.
If you're sure that's what you want.
Of course, you heard what I said.
Yeah, but just remember,
if I dredge up something from the bottom of that river
that you don't like, you're the guys who ordered it.
We'll return to tonight's adventure of George Valentine
in just a moment.
Meanwhile, a word about parlor pastimes.
Remember this game a few years ago?
Somebody would say knock knock and you'd say who's there.
Many a good gag and many a laugh came out of this game.
But at the same time, there was a lot of fun
and a lot of fun in the game.
And I think it's a good time to get back to the game.
I think it's a good time to get back to the game.
I think it's a good time to get back to the game.
But at the same time, there was another kind of knock knock
that was no laughing matter,
for it was in your car's engine.
And engine knocking often caused overstress of parts,
severe temperatures, waste of power and gasoline.
Today, motor fuel engineers
have this problem under control.
At Standard of California,
they blended several different gasolines
into one great motor fuel, Chevron Supreme gasoline.
Laboratory tests and road tests prove
that premium quality Chevron Supreme
burns smoothly, has high anti-knock value.
In your new car or an older one,
try Chevron Supreme yourself.
Besides anti-knock value, you'll find
it has all the qualities your car needs for good going.
You can get Chevron Supreme gasoline at standard stations
and independent Chevron gas stations,
where they say and mean,
we'll take better care of your car.
Now back to tonight's adventure of George Valentine
and a million dollar tunnel burrowing deep under a riverbed,
a series of unexplained accidents
that stopped the job cold.
Why?
That's the answer George has to supply.
But so far, all he's learned is the rather startling fact
that both partners in the contracting firm
of Canaan Bowers have their own good reasons
for wanting to see the tunnel left unfinished.
Right now, George and Claire have just entered
Hogan's Hogpen hangout of the Sand Hogs,
where Big Bill Kane is talking to his workers.
And I know we've been falling behind down in the tunnel,
but you know Jim Bowers and me were Sand Hogs ourselves.
We can lick this job, and I've even hired Valentine here
to make sure about them accidents.
Now here's an offer, you make up for lost time,
and I paid time and a half to every man from then on.
I can swallow that better, Brooksie,
if I didn't know about that insurance policy Kane took out.
Now look boys, that offer my partner just made just suits me too.
Just wanted you to know.
I could swallow that easier if I didn't know
about the offer Bowers got
from that other construction company.
Well I don't know about you boys,
but I still have my doubts.
Oh, it's that cheerful old friend from the man lock.
Don't get me wrong, Mr. Kane.
I like making extra money,
but when a job like this gets off on the wrong foot,
it never straightens out.
All right, Charlie, you're just getting the jitters.
All right, go on and laugh,
but I wouldn't be surprised that if we push that tunnel
another 50 yards, we'd run into a ledge of gravel and hard pain.
Boulders will never get past, just more trouble.
Now all we want to know from you boys is,
are you with us or not?
We're with you, we're with you.
All right, that's all we want to hear.
The drinks are on Kane and Bowers, go and get it.
Go on.
Come on, Brooksy.
Where are we going, George?
Just riding a hunch.
We've got to be someplace before five o'clock.
I wish you'd hurry, Mr. Valentine.
You know the Bureau of Harbors in what way
is closest at five o'clock.
Yeah, yeah, sure, I'll be through in a minute.
Yeah, I think I found the map I want.
Topographical survey, Riverbed, Section B,
Oleander through Perry Street.
Well, that's just where the tunnel is being built, George.
Huh, huh.
Very interesting.
Yeah, and this would be around Pier 19.
What are you talking about?
I'm not quite sure, Brooksy,
but we're going to ride that hunch a little harder.
Hey, you're the watchman on this pier, Pop?
Yep, been here for the last 15 years.
Huh?
Hey, would you tell me something?
Yeah?
Those white bubbles coming out there on the river.
Yeah, that's where they're working on the new tunnel, son.
That's as far as they got in all these months.
Yes, we read they're having a lot of trouble.
Yeah, they keep working day and night, too.
Can always tell by the position of that trawler out there
just where they're working.
You don't say?
Yep, she's there every night, too.
Sort of keeps right ahead of the tunnel.
I can tell that by the bubbles that come up out of the water.
Hmm, I wonder what the trawler has to do with the tunnel.
Yeah, I don't know, man goes over the side in a diving suit
every night.
Suppose that's got something to do with the tunneling job,
though.
Probably he's kind of a traffic cop down there,
clears out the fish so that they can go ahead.
Traffic cop, huh?
Hey, Pop, you've been a great help.
Thanks a lot.
You're welcome.
Now where, George?
Angel, what do you say I hire a motorboat
and we take a nice romantic ride on the river?
OK, George, I agree with you.
A trawler on top of the river has
nothing to do with the building of a tunnel under the river.
Ben Brooksey, why is it here every night, always just ahead
of the shield of the tunnel?
That's more than a coincidence.
There it is up ahead.
What are we going to say to whoever's aboard?
May we drop off for a cup of old fashioned clam chowder?
If you don't mind, young lady, I'll do the talking.
As always.
Hey, up there.
Hey, can we come aboard?
Anybody home?
No, and get away from here.
Well, the truth is we ran out of gas.
Didn't you hear me?
I said get on your way.
Well, surely you can spare enough gasoline just to...
I see you didn't understand what I said.
George!
Hey, what are you trying to do?
Next time I won't miss.
I'll get away from here and spare one.
George, what's going on around here?
Look, Brooksey, I caught the name on that trawler.
It's the Martha M. Tomorrow morning, first thing,
check on the registry.
See who owns it.
Then pick me up at the tunnel.
You were down in the tunnel early this morning, Mr. Valentine.
I had to look around, Charlie.
How long have I been sitting here in the man locks?
Oh, just about 15 minutes.
Seems like, like I just got in here.
And Charlie, I don't feel so good.
You'll be OK.
You're an old hand at this now.
You've been up and down here a couple of times.
But it seems like I got hammers in my head beating away.
And you look like six guys lined up six miles away.
You'll be OK when you get some fresh air.
Hey, look, officer, I know, I know where I want to go.
Help me, will you?
Yeah, you need a lot of help, mister.
I've been watching you weaving down the block.
I'm very sick.
I feel rotten.
I wonder why.
I think I got the bends.
Yes, and you've been bending over the bar too much.
Hey, take me back, officer.
The tunnel.
There's only one place I'm taking you to jail
so you can sleep it off.
Come along with you now.
Look, Mr. Kane, Mr. Bowers, I know Mr. Valentine was here at the tunnel this morning.
OK, but what you're so excited about, Miss Brooks.
He was supposed to meet me at the shaft,
and he never would have gone without leaving some kind of message.
I wouldn't worry about Valentine.
I found out what he wanted to know, and he was waiting for that information.
Information about the tunnel?
What kind of information?
I'll let Mr. Valentine tell you.
Do you mind if I use your phone?
No, but rather is.
Hello?
Police headquarters?
Let me talk to Lieutenant Riley.
OK, I'll wait.
Look, we hired your boss so we could keep this thing confidential.
Yeah, that's right.
Let's forget about ethics, boys.
The man who's among the missing is someone I happen to care a lot about.
Hello?
Oh, Lieutenant Riley, this is Brooksie.
Oh, I need your help.
I can't find George.
Oh, look, Lieutenant, will you check the jails and the hospitals
and see what you can come up with?
Oh, believe me, Lieutenant, I know what I'm talking about.
We traced him down for you, lady, but you're not taking him out of here.
Brooksie.
Brooksie, my head.
Take it easy, darling.
Best thing is to let him sleep it off.
Can't you see this man is sick?
He's got the chokes, the bends.
We've got to get him back to that decompression chamber at the tunnel.
What are you talking about?
I'll show you. Wait a minute.
This tag here around his neck.
I can't breathe.
Oh, so they took it off him.
Well, here they gave me one, too.
Here, read it.
This man is a sandhog.
Decompression chamber.
Rush.
OK, lady, you win.
And I hope we make it.
Hello, Angel.
Oh, darling, I thought you'd never open your eyes.
Why doesn't somebody turn that radiator off?
It's hissing. We're back in the manlock, George.
That's why you're feeling so much better.
Hey, but what happened?
Well, you were down in the tunnel this morning and you must have come up too quickly.
That's why they picked you up in the street wandering around.
Yeah, yeah, I remember coming up
and everything suddenly going blank.
I got all the dope on that trawler, the Martha M.
Yeah.
Well, it has nothing at all to do with the tunnel.
It's registered in the name of C.W.
Egan and his wife, Martha M. Egan.
Oh, yeah, and the Egan's were out fishing.
C.W. in a diving suit and Martha M.
with a rifle instead of a rod and reel.
George, there's something else.
No, there couldn't be.
There was another accident in the tunnel.
What kind of accident?
I don't know.
Why don't you get over to that phone on the wall, Brooks?
See, I want to talk to Ken.
I'm OK, George.
Hello, hello.
Yeah, hello.
Bill Kane?
Yeah.
This is Valentine, Kane.
Yeah, Valentine.
We're having a lot of trouble.
You OK?
Oh, sure, just handy.
I heard you had an iris scape.
What kind of accident was it now?
The whole tunnel nearly got flooded.
Yeah?
Yeah, just a good thing the new ship wasn't in yet.
Poor Charlie, the lock tender got killed.
Charlie?
Nobody will even know why he was down at the tunnel face
with a drill.
But when we found him, he was over his head in the muck pile.
I see.
I don't know what the answer is, but it's
the end of old Charlie Egan.
Egan?
George, what is it?
Sure, you know Charlie?
Egan.
So that's the answer.
What's that, Valentine?
Look, Kane, get powers and wait for me in your office.
First, I want to see a lady about a boat.
Then I got something to say to you.
Valentine, you don't know what you're saying.
Just the same gentleman.
It was Charlie Egan who was responsible for all the trouble
here at the tunnel.
That doesn't make sense.
He was just a lock tender.
He gave him the job more out of pity than anything else.
OK, OK, then listen to this.
Do you remember what Charlie said at the hog pen?
Oh, not particularly.
He said if the tunnel went another 50 yards,
it would run into a ledge of gravel, hard pan, and boulders.
Well?
Well, the map of the Bureau of Harbors and Waterways
didn't show it.
But Charlie knew exactly what he was talking about.
How would he know that?
Oh, that's funny.
I asked myself those same questions.
How would an ordinary sand hog just in from Chicago
know the exact topography of the riverbed?
Yeah.
He suspected I was getting wise and saw to it
that I got a good case of the bends this morning.
Just to make sure I was a dead duck,
he took that tag from around my neck.
But why?
Was he crazy?
Well, that's a matter of opinion.
I didn't want to believe the reason myself when I found out.
I talked to Mrs. Egan.
She's the lady on the boat.
She's in the outer office right now.
Suppose we have her in and see if it's any easier for you
to believe her story.
Anything you say, Valentine.
OK.
Will you come in, please, Mrs. Egan?
All right.
I want you to repeat just what you told me.
What shall I tell them?
The two people wasted their lives
looking for a will of the wits, a treasure you were always
going to find the next day?
Treasure?
Yes.
Sensible people don't believe in buried treasure.
And sunken ships bulging with gold, but Charlie did.
Now, wait a minute.
He was the eccentric CWI Egan, who
spent a fortune and 20 years of his life
looking for ships that had sunk with treasure aboard.
And fantastic as it may seem, gentlemen, he found one.
Didn't he, Mrs. Egan?
Just a couple of months ago.
He went down into the river every night.
He kept prowling around the hull of that boat.
He knew that there was gold there somewhere.
He kept saying he'd find it any day now, his treasure.
And then Kane and Bowers started to drive a tunnel.
Yeah.
Charlie knew he was going to meet head on with the Granada,
the old Spanish galleon he knew was there.
Became a race against time.
That's why he got a job here.
Did all he could to keep the tunnel from getting any farther.
Yeah.
And at night, every night, he'd go down to look some more.
And I'd help him.
And today was his last desperate attempt
to flood us out.
Yes.
He wasn't going to see anybody get to his treasure
as long as he lived.
And he kept his word.
["The Star-Spangled Banner"]
Well, Brooksie, here's the check from Kane and Bowers.
That's all washed up.
So what do you say we go out stepping tonight?
Oh, well, darling.
Hey, did you see the paper this morning?
No, why?
Well, they raised the Granada out of the river last night.
They did?
And there was a treasure chest just as Charlie knew all along.
Oh, so old Charlie was right after all.
Yep.
A chest packed to the brim with old Spanish coins.
George, how romantic.
Oh, yeah.
But old Charlie wouldn't have been too happy about it.
No, why?
The whole batch was worth about $100.
["The Star-Spangled Banner"]
And now a message of importance to motorists.
Maybe you've got your vacation trip all mapped out.
But how about the family car?
Before you start out, better make
sure it gets a thorough vacation check
at your standard station or independent Chevron gas station.
They'll inspect your tires, battery, spark plugs,
and oil filter.
They can tell whether there's any risk of your fan belt
getting out of kilter.
And they'll make sure that each vital lubrication spot is OK.
Besides helping you get off to a good start on your vacation,
there's another thing about independent Chevron gas
stations and standard stations.
Wherever you motor in the West, you're
never far from their quality products and superior services.
And don't forget, whether you're on a vacation
or just motoring around town, these
are the service stations where they say and mean,
we'll take better care of your car.
["The Star-Spangled Banner"]
Next week, when you tune our way for another adventure
of George Valentine, you'll hear.
Brooksie, I want you to get down to headquarters
as soon as possible.
Have them get that whole crew together,
all those pixies that were at the seance last night.
Including the spirits, George?
Including Miss Turner.
Have them all brought back to the sanctuary.
But why?
If there really was a murder, Brooksie,
I won't be able to live with myself
until I find the reason for it.
Right now, I got a date with a crystal ball.
And maybe I'll get a preview.
["The Star-Spangled Banner"]
Tonight's adventure of George Valentine
has been brought to you by Standard of California
on behalf of independent Chevron gas
stations and standard stations throughout the West.
Tonight's story was written by David Victor and Herbert
Little, Jr. and directed by Don Clark.
Also heard in the cast, where Frances X. Bushman is Cain,
Herbert Lytton is Bowers, Ruth Parrott is Mrs. Egan,
Joe Duvall is Charlie, Franklin Pinky Parker is Sanders,
and Leo Cleary as Harrigan.
The music is composed and conducted
by Eddie Dunstetter, your announcer, John Heaston.
Listen again next week, same time, same station,
to Let George Do It.
["The Star-Spangled Banner"]
This is the Mutual Don Lee Broadcasting System.
["The Star-Spangled Banner"]