IWCF 069 Very Private Funeral

0:00Meet the Red Bull Dragonberry Emergizer. It's one of the many new drinks out now. Who knew ice cold drinks could be so? Fire. Try them all only at my doubles. I was a communist for the FBI. Starring Dana Andrews in an exciting tale of Danger and Espionage. I was a communist for the FBI. From the actual records and authentic experiences of Math Sivetic, come many of the incidents in this unusual story. Here is our star Dana Andrews as Math Sivetic. Who for nine fantastic years lived as a communist for the FBI.

1:03Fair is foul and foul is fair. Black is white, white is black and things only seem to be what they seem to be. It sounds distraught and lunatic, yes. That's how it was though, for nine years. When my right hand hardly knew what my left hand was doing, yet if either hand made a mistake, I might have died. Nine long fantastic years of two-faced and double-talk behind the Red Mask, being a communist for the FBI. In a moment, listen to Dana Andrews as Math Sivetic, Under Color Man. Now here is Dana Andrews as Math Sivetic, Under Color Man.

2:11This story from the confidential file is marked very private funeral. Come and rev Chico doesn't even look at me when I report into communist headquarters. He lulls back in his swivel chair, gazing dreamily out of the window. I never like that dreamy look in rev Chico. It's kind of spring fever he gets periodically. I just wonder which way is he going to spring this time? I sit down gingerly. Rev Chico swivels around and peers at me, biting me. Comrade Sivetic, here. What do you know about the so-called electronic brain? Not too much. Anything? Just that it's a super-calculating machine that does marvels of mathematics. You've probably never heard of Dwayne Fleming. Not a thing. Dwayne Fleming knows everything about electronic calculators.

3:11Whose side is he on? Hours. Comrade Fleming. Comrade Fleming has been engaged to aid in the installation of the newest electronic brain at the university here. He's been notified that he will presently have a personal assistant. Me, I'd hang in. The United States military relies heavily on machines like this. Its amazing calculations can put advanced aircraft into production years ahead of schedule. Just for example. You all assist Comrade Fleming and seeing that the new machine renders the smallest possible service to the United States military? Habitat. Nothing crude, you understand. No broken tubes, short circuits are missing transistors or all that clumsy business. Then you do know something about them. Just what I read in the science magazines? The university Dwayne Fleming. He expects you.

4:24Yes? Mr. Fleming, please. He's resting. I'm Mr. Svetic, Matt Svetic. Oh. Coming. I hope I'm not disturbing him. You're disturbing him. But he said it was important. Maybe I could walk around and come back later. The arrow is that, I'm on. Yes, dear. It's Mr. Svetic. I thought you were sleeping. It was lying down, but I wasn't sleeping. You're a prompt man, Svetic. I can come back a little later. No, no, no, let's go back to my study. Anything I can bring you? Later, honey. Come on, Svetic. Get it over with. I want to like them both. And from both of them I get a guarded sort of resentment. His wife is pretty sensitive looking. But I sort of regret her being so visibly allergic to me. Her husband isn't bursting with affection for me either. We box around, conversational, while.

5:25I get the eerie feeling that half the time he's forgetting I'm even there. Then he comes back after one of his long, weird mental absences. What do you know about electronics? Very little. How do you expect to be useful then? I count on your briefing and instructing me. In other words, I'm not a good person. I'm not instructing me. In other words, I'll have to do the real sabotage. Well, I don't agree with you. In other words, your only function here is to see that I sabotage this job. I wouldn't say that. I'm saying it. You're my policeman. I mean, that's a loud. What are you, MVD or what? I'm here to help you. You're here to watch me and I don't think I need to be watched. You don't think you have to be watched. Don't you know? You listen to me, Svetic. Now you listen to me. Listening, comrade Fleming. It is comrade, I hope. Dwayne there. Come in, Carol. I brought you two male animals with small refreshments just in case. Oh, thank you, Mrs Fleming. Just put them down, Carol. I'll be back in a moment.

6:28What happened, Mr Svetic? Maybe I'd better stop back later. Wait. Let's talk about Dwayne and you and the party. They won't take long. Short and sweet then. Short and bitter, Mr Svetic. I want you to go back to your masters. Go back and tell them to leave us alone. To leave Dwayne Fleming to die in peace. What? You wonder why my husband is so irritable and moody? Irritability in his dreadful headaches are all part of what's killing him. Mr Svetic, please go back and tell the party that comrade Dwayne Fleming has a tumor of the brain. He'll be dead in less than a year. Well, Mrs Fleming. He's sick and tired of all your communist intrigue and burrowing and blabbermouth shouting of fake ideals. Tell your chief Dwayne's done enough for the party. Tell him he wants out. Tell them anything that'll make them leave him alone.

7:31There's a lot of him living peace and tranquility and love. These last precious months. Well, I'll come back later, Mrs Fleming. I'm shocked. Too shocked, in fact, to be able to offer whatever awkward sympathies are possible. But somehow, somewhere, glimmering through the gloom and depression is a glancing sparkle of will of the wisp light. Meet the Red Bull Dragonberry Emergizer. It's one of the many new drinks out now. Who knew ice cold drinks could be so fire? Try them all only at my dogs. I phone the FBI, meet my contact in a quiet restaurant where I have trouble keeping my voice down with unsafe limits. And don't get me wrong. I have the deepest sympathy for Fleming and his wife, but keep it down, Matt. And no names. Can't you see what this can mean? I know what I'm thinking, but you go on.

8:31I think Fleming is in a mood to spill all he knows about the party. Do the FBI here. That's what I'm thinking. Can you do it without revealing that I informed you? Sure. I just tell Fleming that the word if I open is asked for a routine FBI check on him. He's a bind if he talks. Just one more thing, Matt. How do we know for sure that Fleming is a dying man? His wife ought to know. He knows. Just always on the alert for a trap, that's all. A trap? Well, and that's why you'd better report Fleming's condition to the party. Why? Maybe they know what's wrong with him and they want to see if you tell them about it. Wheels, with end wheels, with end wheels. You'd better bring Comrade Riff Chinkle up to date now, Matt. I'll follow through on Fleming. Ah. One year to live or less is that it's a bit...

9:34That's it, Comrade. So the contemptible turn coat turns cold on the party. Suppose the FBI gets to him in its present mood. I don't think we have to worry about that. He wants to live out his last few months in quiet. I regret your negative attitude in the face of such an opportunity. Comrade Sivettic. Negative attitude? What do you expect me to do? It is conceivable that Comrade Fleming, having only months to live, will risk even more than in the past for the communist international. See him and tell him that I wish to speak to him. I tell a phone Fleming's home from a pay booth. I get his wife on the telephone. There's something triumphant about the way she tells me Duane isn't home. He got another call earlier today. Man calls for him about an hour ago and they haven't come back yet. You wouldn't know that man was, would you? Nobody you'd know, I'm sure.

10:34Oh, tell Duane I called, that I call again. It's important. Very well. Goodbye. I don't have to have it spelled out to me that nobody I know is probably the FBI. I try again in an hour. No answer. I keep trying all day. Nothing. I finally raise Mrs Fleming afternoon of the next day and get a smallest jolt. I'm sorry, Mrs. Fettick Duane is out of town. Out of town? He came home yesterday after meeting that man. There was another call for him. When will he be back? I don't know if I'm free to say. Goodbye, Mrs. Fettick. Fine thing. Now I've got to go back to Rift Chink. I went tell him the bird has flown since yesterday and I've just been sitting. I walk into Rift Chink's office expecting the worst. And do I get it? Only even worse than I thought.

11:35Sitting across some Rift Chinko is the man who is out of town Duane Fleming. And he doesn't look any too happy either. Nobody does. Sit down, Comrade Settick. Fleming, have I tried to reach you? I'm complimented. Settick, Comrade Fleming here received a visit yesterday from the FBI. The FBI, just so. My informed sources gave me the news. Not I regret to say Comrade Fleming himself. I tell you I didn't go to them, Rev. Chinko. They came to me. Why? I told you the war department asked for a routine FBI check. Assume I believe you, Comrade. Go back to your work and wait for my instructions. You may go. Now then, Comrade Settick, next thing's next. His wife told me he was not a Settick. Settick, the party does not always contend itself with the reports of even the most trusted members. What report are you referring to?

12:35Any, specifically. The report that Comrade Fleming has a fatal brain tumour. I'm sure Comrade Fleming himself confirmed my report. He did. Well, so much for that then. Settick, did you bother to discover that Comrade Fleming's doctor is Dr. Duane Fleming the Elder? His father. No, I didn't. You didn't. What's the difference? What's the difference? Medicine is medicine. A fatal tumour is his fatal to a blood relative as it is to a strain. Oh, brilliant, Comrade. A pause. Bravo. All right, what's your story, Comrade? Fleming has not been out of town. I can see that. By my direction, he's been hospitalized and diagnosed by disinterested physicians. Well, Comrade Fleming has no brain tumour. No? And what's he dying of? He is not dying. What? I'm sure he thinks he is. Or thought he was. Comrade Fleming did sincerely believe that.

13:35He believed it so surely that he recently had nothing to lose by informing to the FBI. We can't be sure of that. The circumstances all point to that and we can take no chances of a vehicle. Therefore, before he tells too much to when Fleming must be safe, too much to when Fleming must be silenced. Silence. Remove. He's your assignment, Comrade Svetic. Attend to it. Now, back to Dana Andrew, starring as Mats Svetic, in I was a communist for the FBI and the

14:42second act of our story. I sit staring at Rev Chinko when Muff is dry. I've been asked to remove the human life which has now become an annoyance to the party. And I show my feelings. I can't help it. No commitment I've made to the party or to the FBI is going to turn me into a tool of killers. Even if it kills me, I know my reaction is making a very bad impression on Comrade Rev Chinko. I think it's Svetic. Pretends Svetic. Make a showing act. Your pale Comrade Svetic. Oh, yes, it's a shock. If you have apprehensions about your role in removing the traitor from the area of danger, let me make myself clear. I do not expect crudities from you. I will provide you with people to contact. They will execute our design.

15:44I see. You merely make the arrangements for Comrade Fleming's successful suicide. Really telephone this number, arrange a meeting, take the case and the requirements. What about payment? Payment is arranged for through entirely different channels. Okay. Now go and keep the party out of it. I sleepwalk out into the street numb with fear and repudence. I am supposed to deliver Duane Fleming dead or I'm on the spot. I try not to dissolve into panic, hold on, think. How did I get conned into a thing like this to begin with? I telephone my FBI contact again. He picks me up in a dull, expressionless automobile. We drive out into the suburbs in silence. We park in a regular garden of a street whose peace and beauty only deepen the squalor of my involvements.

16:49Now, Matt, to begin with, we're not going to let you drag Comey chestnuts out of the fire so cheer up. You're not going to let me, brother, you couldn't make me do it. Go through the motions, Matt. And make it look good. If I make it look too good, what happens to Fleming and his wife? Matt, if you don't do this job for the party, they'll get somebody who will. And he'll do it sincerely in an ice cold blood. If you at least seem to be doing it, there's a chance to save Fleming and his wife. I suppose that makes sense, all right? You know it does. Nice prospect. There's something I'd like you to do for us. Yeah, all interest should be in by the close of business today. Obviously, Duane Fleming believes sincerely in his imminent death from a brain tumor. Why? His own father diagnosed it that way. That's why. Will you check into that forest? It may be very important. Which comes first, the goons or the doctor. Call RevChinco's number and get going on that before RevChinco gets impatient.

17:49And suspicious. Then, see Dr. Fleming. Meanwhile? We'll do it. We can, man. You do your job, huh? I go to a phone booth. I've fumbled the coin several times before I can make myself deposited in the coin slot. I dial, perspiring, shaking. I get a laconic voice on the phone. I take a deep breath, state the case briefly and guardedly. A laconic voice makes some notes. Makes an appointment with me for that night when Fleming will probably be home. Pick me up, intersection of Nelson and DiGarmo, heat tonight. Click. It's done. I'm an accessory to successful suicide. I've got time to see Dr. Fleming, Duane Fleming's dead. I dial his office, make an appointment for after office hours.

18:51Urgent and important. Now, then, we're quite alone, Mr. Ruhm. It doesn't matter, Dr.. If I am to be your physician, sir. You're not. I'm afraid I don't quite... You're Duane Fleming's father, aren't you? You diagnosed his case as a brain tumor, right? I don't discuss my patients with anyone. At a lone, nameless stranger. I have no idea your son isn't going to die. Who are you? Your son went to another brain specialist. My son has complete confidence in me. He would never have doubted my diagnosis, except under influence. Nevertheless, Dr., you're a communist. I don't call you names, do I? Nevertheless. Why does you make that phony diagnosis on your own son? It is not a phony diagnosis as you, crudely, as you... Go on, Dr.. All right. I made that diagnosis because he is my own... And my only son, because my son was sick.

19:52Sick to his heart and soul, sick in his mind from the same disease you have. It almost worked. Almost worked. You're a doctor. How could you do such a thing? Do such a thing. Whoever you are, I know what you are. Turn around. Read the oath that the property is framed on the wall here. Well, the oath we doctors live by and practice by. Read it. I swear, I make this mind oath and this mind in written engagement. Further down. From so far as power and discernment shall be mine. From there, read it. I will carry out the regimen for the sick and will keep them from harm and wrong. The sick, sir. I will keep them from harm and from wrong. My son was sick. Yes, rotten sick. Sick of the soul of the sickness you have. I used my medicine according to my art and my conscience and my oath to keep my six son from deadly harm.

20:58Now, get out. Doctor Fleming, you started to deny my accusation that you made a fake diagnosis. Why? Out. Who are you protecting, doctor? Carol. Your daughter-in-law. Get out, I tell you. Okay. That's the way you want it, doctor. Scum. And now I know what I'll never report to Rev. Chinko. I know that Dr. Fleming made a true diagnosis, a clean bill of health. It's Carol who has taken it upon herself to tell her husband he's dying. Because Carol, who loves Duane, surely as his own father loves him, also wants to save Duane from the deadly harm of communism. At eight o'clock, three men in an inconspicuous car picked me up at Nelson and DiGarmo. I sit next to the driver.

21:58We exchange casual identification. The car perns toward the university grounds. Slowly we cruise into Fleming Street. And all at once, our driver shoots the car ahead. Because there are police cars in front of Fleming's modest house. And an emergency squad is shoving through the crowd with an oxygen apparatus. Her Chinko. You were always to call before coming down the headquarters, Sylvettic. You know that. How can I call if you always cut your telephone off when you work after hours? Get on with it, Sylvettic. How did it go? It didn't go. So? Well, when we got there, the place was surrounded by police cars and a crowd. An emergency rescue squad was taking oxygen apparatus into the house. Oh. Is that all you have to say? Oh. I arranged for earlier swifter justice, let us say. You said another squad after Fleming? A precaution. A precaution. What about me?

22:59Don't you realize I might have walked into a trap? And I can tell you the hoods in my car weren't liking me much for almost getting them caught. The incident is closed. Is Fleming accounted for? You saw the rescue squad. Too late? Quite. Well, what happens to Mrs Fleming? Happens? Oh, happened then. You've done fairly well, Comrade. But you need seasoning in some phases of our work. It will come. Good night, Sylvettic. Good night, Comrade Ruffchenko. I go out into the night. A dark feels dirty. I fail. I fail, Cal and Duane Fleming, who could have been salvaged and turned to good. I tried to close my mind to the vision of that rescue squad rushing into the Fleming House.

24:03Too late. I stop at a radio TV store to listen to a local newscast and show enough it comes. A young couple on assignment to the Electronic Brain Project on the local university campus was found dead today of asphyxiation and what was called by the police a suicide pact. The police medical examiner stated that and so forth. I go to a telephone like an automaton, lily FBI night number. We don't talk just arranged to meet for a sandwich at an all-night drugstore. Are you ready to talk now? Keep it low. I thought you were on the ball. I thought you were following through to protect them. We did our best, Matt. Dead. Suicide pact. It's on the radio. It's in the bowl, log editions of the paper, too. You did your best. After that, when refchinkers goons squad arrived, we picked them up and invented a whole set of about the Fleming's being asphyxied. They're not? They're in our custody. Wait a minute, I'm confused.

25:03You see, Matt, the only way we could really protect them was by letting the Reds think they'd succeeded in liquidating them. We're hiding him and Carol away in the northwest under protective custody. He's told us everything. We want to be sure the Reds don't take him away from us again. I can have a new life up there. Good. The Fleming's gets buried tomorrow, closed to the public. Guess why? You don't have your own body. Tell us who pays the check. There's nothing. This one's on me. It's going to be a lonely funeral tomorrow, but they only mourn her being Dr. Fleming. One of the few funerals where even the remains didn't come to the ceremony. Dr. Fleming, he's proved his metal. He can keep a secret, especially to save his son's life and mind. Very so. Sometimes, after jobs like this, I feel awfully smug about myself.

26:06All they're well pleased with the FBI. It doesn't matter that good people like Dr. Fleming think I'm scum. I mean, it doesn't hurt too much. I'm hardened to it now, almost. I'm a communist for the FBI. I walk alone. Dana Andrews will return in just a moment.

27:16This is Dana Andrews, friends. We believe the way to fight communism is not only to expose its intrigues, but to sell democracy. In the story you've just heard, names, dates, and places have been disguised for obvious reasons. But many of the incidents are taken from the actual experiences of Matt Savettik who worked undercover for the FBI. Next week, another exciting story. Join us then, won't you?

28:16Thank you.