Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 41 — page 96: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

- AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION Time CHECK. Four. DISPERSAL. Did you say stop... Time CHeck. Three. DISPERSAL. . the roc- ket? KEIN. Yes! TIME CHECK. Two. DISPERSAL. It can’t done... TIME CHECK. One. Kien. But it must... TIME CHECK. Zero. At this point the rocket should have taken off with a tremendous roar, but what came over the monitor speaker was the sound of lively music fading into a nasal voice which said: Jn yesterday’s bantamweight fight for the world title a knock-out in the third round signalled a win for youthful challenger Tex Delaney of Los Angeles ...! Very few changes were made in the script. The trial scene in the courtroom, originally reported over a radio newscast, was dramatised. Said producer Archie Campbell: Two invaluable ingredients for any radio play are court scenes and dialogue over intercom or R/T. They sustain listener interest. Sound ad- vice from one of radio’s best sound producers. A few small cuts were made. For instance, the following lines were dropped from the interroga- tion of George Hills by F.B.I. agent John Keenan: Hills has just been asked if he has any children, and he says ‘‘no.”’ KEENAN. By choice? Or in spite of? HILLS. a crack? KEENAN. Were you child- léss by choice, or by fate? Hits. I don’t see how my ar life can be of interest to the B.L. be Is that meant to be 95 THE SCREENPLAY The film Spaceways was made last winter by Exclusive Films of Wardour Street, starring Eva Bar- tok and Howard Diff. Although it is still on general release in the U.S.A., it has been screened at a few cinemas in this country. It may, by the time this appears in print, be on the circuits over here. The first thing the movie people did when they got hold of the script of the radio play was to change the names of all the characters. George Hills becomes Steve Mit- chell. John Keenan becomes a man called Smith. McCabe, the computing officer, is now Lisa (Eva Bartock)—still a computing officer; his sex is changed so that Mitchell can fall in love with him (her) and so provide additional love interest. Besides, Lisa has to go up in the rocket with Mitchell (Hills) right at the end of the film so that they can have a brief love scene in free fall The location is also changed from Nevada to somewhere in England. And Colby (now Cren- shaw) who ran away with Hills’ wife turns out to be a Russian spy. The basic plot, however, re- mains. The murder theme is still present, although the trial scene has been eliminated entirely. The ending of the screenplay was re- written after finalisation: instead of Howard Duff and Eva Bartock dying a vacuum death out in space (first version) they discover an emergency wheel which, when turned, brings the rocket safely back to earth (second version) where, presumably, they live happily ever after. bia The film is quite effective, and uses some good stock shots of rocket launchings to create authen- ticity. Two newsreel sequences conmicloooks.conn