Episode 382: The Discovery of Morniel Mathaway

[00:00:16] Speaker A: The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society Podcast. [00:00:27] Speaker B: Welcome to the Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society, a podcast dedicated to suspense, crime and horror stories from the golden age of radio. I'm Eric. [00:00:36] Speaker C: I'm Tim. [00:00:37] Speaker D: And I'm Joshua. [00:00:38] Speaker C: We love mysterious old time radio stories, but do they stand the test of time? That's what we're here to find out. [00:00:44] Speaker D: This week we present the Discovery of More Neal Mathaway from X Minus One, an episode selected by our Patreon supporter. [00:00:53] Speaker B: Mark X Minus One premiered on NBC Radio April 24, 1955. The first 15 episodes recycled scripts from Dimension X, a short lived science fiction anthology from 1950. The rest of the program's three year run featured new scripts, some adapted from popular science fiction stories of the day, others originating from the minds of NBC staff writers Ernest Kanoye and George Lefferts. In total, X minus 1 produced 126 episodes, including stories from Philip K. Dick, Frederick Pohl, Isaac Asimov, Theodore Sturgeon, and Ray Bradbury. [00:01:29] Speaker C: The tone of X minus 1 veered between two extremes. On one end of the spectrum were dramatic tales focused on dilemmas humans might one day face as technology advanced and space exploration became a reality. These stories often had a strong moral component and were not afraid to sacrifice a happy ending in the service of making their point. Meanwhile, stories on the other end of the spectrum employed a lighter tone and delivered their messages with satire instead of dramatic realism. These plays were as much about the current moment as they were about an imagined future. The discoverer of Maury Matheway falls squarely in the latter category. [00:02:01] Speaker D: First published in the October 1955 issue of Galaxy Magazine, the Discovery of Morneal Mathaway is quintessential William Ten, a British born American writer and teacher renowned for his comedic takes on classic science fiction tropes. Although frequently anthologized and admired by fellow writers, Ten's Swiftian sense of humor often placed him outside the science fiction mainstream. As a result, he received little recognition during his writing career. It wasn't until decades later, long after he had left fiction behind to teach literature at Pennsylvania State University, that 10 was presented as the guest of honor at the 2004 World Science Fiction Convention. After years of relative obscurity, he was finally acknowledged as a pioneer who helped pave the way for genre humorists like Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett and and. [00:02:54] Speaker B: Now, the Discovery of More Neal Mathaway Originally broadcast April 17, 1957 it's late. [00:03:02] Speaker C: At night and a chill has set in. You're alone and the only light you see is coming from an antique radio. Listen to the sounds coming from the speaker. Listen to the music and listen to the voices. [00:03:17] Speaker E: Countdown for blast off. [00:03:19] Speaker F: X minus 5. [00:03:20] Speaker D: 4. 3. [00:03:22] Speaker G: 2. [00:03:23] Speaker F: X minus 1. Fire. From the far horizons of the unknown come tales of new dimensions in time and space. These are stories of the future. Adventures in which you'll live in a million could be years on a thousand maybe worlds. The National Broadcasting Company in cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine presents X Minus one. Tonight the discovery of Monial Matheway by William Ten. [00:04:44] Speaker E: Everyone is astonished at the change in Monial math away since he was discovered. Everyone, that is, but me. They remember him as an unbathed and untalented Greenwich Village painter who began almost every second sentence with I and ended every third one with me. You see, I understand the change in him because I was there the day he was discovered. We were talking about his discovery that day. I was sitting carefully balanced on the one wooden chair in his cold little Bleaker street studio because I was too sophisticated to sit in the easy chair. [00:05:12] Speaker A: Come on, Dave, take a comfortable seat. [00:05:14] Speaker E: Oh, no, Mony. Oh, no. I know about that chair. [00:05:16] Speaker A: Now, what do you mean? It's the only comfortable chair in the room. [00:05:18] Speaker E: I know, I know. Look at it. Broken down spring very high in the front and low in the back. Sure. [00:05:23] Speaker A: It conforms with the position of the spine. [00:05:25] Speaker E: Yeah, sure, sure. And when you sit in it, things begin sliding out of your pockets. Loose change, keys, wallets, anything. What do you do, Moyo, pay the rent on your studio with that easy chair? [00:05:35] Speaker A: Well, as a matter of fact, it is rather profitable. [00:05:39] Speaker E: And that's why I'll sit on the wooden chair, if you don't mind. [00:05:41] Speaker A: Oh, now, don't be bourgeois. [00:05:42] Speaker E: Well, I notice you always sit on the bed. [00:05:44] Speaker A: That's because I'm a good host. [00:05:47] Speaker E: Well, how's the painting going? [00:05:48] Speaker A: Oh, great, great. Fabulous. [00:05:49] Speaker E: You selling the painting? No. [00:05:51] Speaker A: You know, Dave, I can't wait for the day when some dealer, some critic with an ounce of brain sees my work. I can't miss, Dave. I know I can't miss. I'm just too good. Sometimes I get frightened at how good I am. Why, it's almost too much talent for one man. [00:06:06] Speaker E: Well, there's always. [00:06:07] Speaker A: Not that it's too much talent for me. I'm big enough to carry it. Fortunately, I'm large enough of soul. [00:06:13] Speaker E: Oh, good. I'm glad to hear it. Now, if you don't mind, you know. [00:06:15] Speaker A: What I was thinking about this morning? [00:06:17] Speaker E: No. But to tell you the truth, I. [00:06:18] Speaker A: Was thinking about Picasso, Dave. Picasso. [00:06:21] Speaker E: And Rua. [00:06:22] Speaker A: I just gone for a walk through the push cart area to have my breakfast. You know the old hands, quicker than the eyes. [00:06:29] Speaker E: I know. I've seen you do it. You're the only man I know who can ask directions to Houston street and fill his pockets full of bananas at the same time. [00:06:35] Speaker A: Oh well, society owes the artist something. Anyway, I started to think about the art of modern painting. I think about that a lot, Dave. It troubles me. [00:06:45] Speaker E: You do? [00:06:45] Speaker A: Well I think I was thinking who is really doing important work in painting today, who is really an unquestionable great? I could think of only three names. Picasso, Rouel and me. [00:06:56] Speaker G: Well naturally, just three names. No more. [00:07:00] Speaker A: Oh, it made me feel very lonely, Dave. [00:07:03] Speaker E: Yeah, well I can see that. [00:07:04] Speaker A: And then I asked myself why is this so? Has absolute genius always been so rare? Why has my impending discovery been delayed so long? I've thought about it for a long time, Dave. I thought about it humbly, carefully. Because it's an important question and this is the answer I came up with. [00:07:30] Speaker E: Well, don't bother waiting for the answer that Mornio came up with. It turned out to be a theory of aesthetics I'd heard at least a dozen times before from a dozen other painters in the village. Mornial was a bad painter, there was no question about it. I say that not only for my opinion. I've roomed with two modern painters and I've been married for a year to another. But. Well, for example, a friend of mine, a fine critic of modern art, took a look at one of Mornill's paintings which he hung over my fireplace in spite of my protests and just kind of stared slack jawed. What, what does he call that technique? Well, he says it's smudge on smudge. Well, I can believe it. Smudge on smudge, white on white. None. Objectivism, Neo abstractionism, call it what you like. There's nothing there. Nothing. It doesn't even have the interest of those paintings that chimpanzee did a couple of years ago. He's just another of those loudmouth, frowsy, frustrated dilettantes that infest the village. Why do you waste your time with him? Well, for one thing he lives right around the corner and he's kind of colorful in his own sick way. And he does have one great talent. It's not in painting. No, no. Now you see, I just get by as far as living expenses are concerned. Things like good paper to write on, good books for my library, I can't touch them. And sometimes the yearning gets too great. You know, a newly published collection by Wallace Stevens. Well, if I find one I want, I just go over to Mornials and tell him about it. He doesn't lend you money? Oh, no, no, no. Now you see, we go out to the bookstore and we come in separately. And then I start a conversation with the proprietor about some very expensive out of print item I'm thinking of ordering. And Mornio just says, don't mind me, I'm browsing. Well, that's the high sign. I'm browsing. [00:09:15] Speaker G: Well, what happens? [00:09:16] Speaker E: Well, while I'm keeping the proprietor talking, Morniel Snapples the Stevens. [00:09:21] Speaker G: Isn't that just a little bit? [00:09:22] Speaker E: Oh, well, I intend to pay for them, of course, just as soon as I'm a little ahead. [00:09:26] Speaker G: Well, why does he do this for you? [00:09:29] Speaker E: Oh, well, I pay off. I go through the same routine at an art supply store so Mornil can get canvas and paint and brushes. Of course, I really have to pay for Morniel's browsing. I have to suffer through listening to them. And then my conscience bothers me. [00:09:42] Speaker G: Oh, it does? [00:09:43] Speaker E: Yes. You see, I intend to pay for my things, but I know he doesn't. That's why my conscience bothers me. Well, here he was the day he was discovered, sitting in his room and Mo was running on about his own genius. [00:10:03] Speaker A: Now, I can't be as unique as I feel. Other people must be born with the potential of such great talent. But it's destroyed in them before they can reach artistic maturity. Why? [00:10:14] Speaker E: How? [00:10:15] Speaker A: Well, let's examine the role that society plays in all of this. [00:10:19] Speaker E: What's that you got? A high five set? [00:10:20] Speaker A: Nonsense. That's a crass materialistic concept. [00:10:23] Speaker E: Something is happening. Hey, why don't you put the purple lights in? Purple? What's that? Look, look, it's shimmering. It's coming right through the wall. It looks like a box. [00:10:31] Speaker A: We can't both be having an artistic vision. You're not the type. [00:10:34] Speaker E: No, I'm not. And I'm not drunk either. Look out. Something's going. [00:10:39] Speaker G: Mornul Mathaway. [00:10:42] Speaker A: Who are you? [00:10:43] Speaker E: Where'd you come from? [00:10:43] Speaker G: You are Maunol Mathaway? [00:10:45] Speaker E: Yes, yes, yes. [00:10:46] Speaker G: My name is Glescou. I bring you greetings from 2487 A.D. [00:10:49] Speaker E: Oh, 2487 A.D. i realize this is. [00:10:52] Speaker G: A difficult phenomenon for you to grasp entirely, but here I am. We will now indulge in the 20th century custom of shaking hands, Mr. Mornial. Matthew. Oh, well, sure, sure, sure. [00:11:00] Speaker A: Shake. [00:11:01] Speaker G: And you, sir? [00:11:02] Speaker E: Yeah, yeah, sure. I don't Mind shake. [00:11:04] Speaker G: What a moment. What a supreme moment. [00:11:07] Speaker A: What do you mean, what a moment? What's so special about it? Are you the inventor of time travel? [00:11:11] Speaker G: Me? An inventor? No, no, no, no. Time travel was invented by Antoinette Ingeborg and, well, that was after your time. It's hardly worth going into at the moment. Especially since I only have half an hour. [00:11:20] Speaker E: Why half an hour? [00:11:21] Speaker G: The skin drum can only be maintained that long. The skin drum is. Well, call it the transmitting device. It enables me to appear in your period. There is such an enormous expenditure of power required that a trip into the past is made only every 50 years. The privilege is awarded as a sort of. Gobel. I believe I have the word right. It is Gobel, isn't it? The award made in your time. [00:11:41] Speaker E: Well, you wouldn't mean Nobel by any chance? A Nobel Prize. [00:11:44] Speaker G: That's it. The Nobel Prize. A trip is awarded to outstanding scholars as a kind of Nobel prize once every 50 years. The man selected by the Gardamax is the most preeminent. That sort of thing, you know. Up to now, of course, it's always gone to historians or they fritted away on the siege of Troy and the first atom bomb explosion at Los Alamos, or the. Well, the discovery of America, things like that. But this year. [00:12:06] Speaker E: Yes? Well, what. [00:12:08] Speaker A: What kind of scholar are you? [00:12:09] Speaker G: I am an art scholar. My specialty is art history. And my special field in art history is. [00:12:16] Speaker E: What? What? What? [00:12:18] Speaker G: You, Mr. Matheway. In my own period, I may say without much contradiction, I am the greatest living authority on the life and works of Mornial Mathaway. My special field is you. [00:12:31] Speaker E: Dave. Dave. [00:12:32] Speaker A: Did you hear that? Dave? Dave. [00:12:35] Speaker E: I heard. [00:12:36] Speaker A: Do you mean. [00:12:37] Speaker E: You mean that I. I'm famous? [00:12:40] Speaker A: That famous? [00:12:41] Speaker G: Famous? You, my dear sir, are beyond fame. You are one of the immortals the human race has produced. [00:12:47] Speaker A: That famous? [00:12:48] Speaker G: That famous. [00:12:50] Speaker E: Ah. [00:12:50] Speaker G: Who is the man with whom modern painting in its full glory is said to have definitely begun? Who is the man whose designs and color have dominated architecture for the past five centuries? Who was responsible for the arrangement of our. The shape of our artifacts, the texture of our clothing? [00:13:06] Speaker A: Me. [00:13:07] Speaker E: You? [00:13:09] Speaker G: No other man in the history of art has exerted such a massive influence over design. To whom can I compare you, sir? To what other artist in history can I possibly compare you? [00:13:21] Speaker A: Rembrandt? Da Vinci? [00:13:23] Speaker G: Rembrandt and Da Vinci in the same breath as you? That's ridiculous. They lacked your universality, your taste for the cosmic. [00:13:32] Speaker E: Mr. Glesker, excuse me. Do you happen to know of a poet named David Danziger? Did Much of his work survive. [00:13:38] Speaker G: Is that you? [00:13:39] Speaker E: Yes, that's me. Dave Danziger. [00:13:40] Speaker G: Well, no, no, no. I don't think so. The only poet I can remember for this time and this part of the world is Peter Tebb. [00:13:48] Speaker E: Teb? Never heard of him. [00:13:49] Speaker G: Then this must have been before he was discovered. But, you see, I am an art scholar. Well, you see, checking my chronometer, I see my time is getting short. But it is an overwhelming delight for me to be standing in your studio, Mr. Matheway, and looking at you at last in the flesh. I wonder if you would mind obliging me with a small favor. [00:14:08] Speaker E: Oh, sure, sure. [00:14:08] Speaker A: You name it. Nothing's too good for you. [00:14:10] Speaker G: What do you want, I wonder? I'm sure you don't mind. Could you possibly let me look at your painting? The one that you're working on at this very moment? [00:14:19] Speaker A: Well, sure, sure. I have one right over here just now, pull the easel around. There you are. I intend to call this figured figurines number 29. [00:14:31] Speaker G: Oh. [00:14:33] Speaker E: What's the matter? [00:14:34] Speaker G: Well, surely this. This isn't your work, Mr. McElay. [00:14:39] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's my work, all right. Figured figurines number 29. Recognize it? [00:14:44] Speaker G: No, I do not recognize it. And that is a fact for which I am extremely grateful. Could I see something else, please? Something a little later. [00:14:52] Speaker A: Well, that's the latest. Everything else is earlier. Here. [00:14:55] Speaker E: Here. [00:14:55] Speaker A: You might like this. Now, I call this figured figurines number 22. I think it's the best of my early period. [00:15:02] Speaker G: Oh. Oh, dear. You know what this looks like? Smears of paint on top of other smears of paint. [00:15:10] Speaker A: Right. Only I call it smudge on smudge. But you probably know all about that, being such an authority on me. And now here we have figured figurines number 12. [00:15:20] Speaker G: Do you mind leaving these figurines, Mr. Matheway? I'd like to see something of yours with color. With color and form. [00:15:29] Speaker A: Well, I haven't done any real color work for a long time. Wait a minute. Wait. I have one over here somewhere. An old canvas. I was going to paint over it. [00:15:37] Speaker C: Ah, here we are. [00:15:39] Speaker A: This is one of the few examples of my mold and mottled period that I've kept. [00:15:42] Speaker G: All right. I can't imagine why. It's positively. It's. [00:15:47] Speaker E: Oh. [00:15:48] Speaker G: Oh, dear. [00:15:48] Speaker A: Oh, now, wait a minute. Let me show you some of my intestinal period. [00:15:53] Speaker E: Ah. [00:15:54] Speaker A: Here. Here's a particularly good one. It's called Large Intestine Rampant. You like it? [00:16:00] Speaker G: Oh, please, please. [00:16:01] Speaker E: I. [00:16:02] Speaker G: You know, I think I'd like to sit down? [00:16:04] Speaker A: Well, take the comfortable chair. And here's another one called Small intestine. Incisive. Oh, it's rather good, don't you think? I managed to avoid completely any definite line. You notice that. [00:16:15] Speaker G: I don't suppose you ever drink of Glfax? Oh, no, no, of course you don't. It hasn't been invented yet. [00:16:20] Speaker A: Oh, now here's one that's bound to be great. It's one of my earlier smudge on smudges. It's called fly ash. I painted it by coating the canvas with slow setting glue and leaving it out on the window for about two and a half hours. Notice the delicate deposit of soot. [00:16:34] Speaker G: Please, please, Miss Matheway. Please, please. [00:16:37] Speaker A: Oh, I've got lots more. [00:16:39] Speaker G: You know, I don't understand this. All these canvases. This is obviously before you discover yourself in your true technique. But I'm looking for a sign, a hint to the genius that is to come. And I find. [00:16:52] Speaker E: Well, how about this one Here? [00:16:53] Speaker A: Here. [00:16:53] Speaker G: Please, please, please, please. Oh, take that away. Oh, dear, oh, dear. No, no. Look, I'll have to leave soon. I don't understand this at all. Let me show you something. Here, gentlemen. Here. A pocket edition of the source book. [00:17:10] Speaker E: The complete paintings of Monial Matheway, 1928. 1996. Were you born in 1928? [00:17:15] Speaker A: Yep, May 23, 1928. [00:17:17] Speaker G: Here, look at the first painting. [00:17:21] Speaker E: Well, that. That's beautiful. I mean, the color. That's incredible. Oh, well, that stuff. [00:17:30] Speaker A: Why didn't you tell me you wanted that kind of stuff? [00:17:32] Speaker G: You mean. You mean you have paintings like this too? [00:17:35] Speaker A: No, no, no, not paintings. One painting. Oh, I did it last week as a sort of an experiment. But I wasn't satisfied with the way it turned out, so I. I gave it to the girl downstairs. [00:17:47] Speaker E: Would you like to look at it? [00:17:48] Speaker G: Oh, yes, yes, yes, very much, Very much. [00:17:51] Speaker A: Well, here, I'll just toss you a. [00:17:52] Speaker E: Book on the bed. [00:17:53] Speaker A: Come on. It won't take a minute or two. Oh, she isn't at home. I thought she'd be home now. Oh, I did so want you to see that painting. [00:18:15] Speaker G: I want to see it. I want to see anything that looks like your mature work, but time is getting shorter. [00:18:21] Speaker A: I'll tell you what. Anita here has a couple of cats that she asked me to feed when she's away for a while. So she's giving me the key to her apartment. Suppose I browse upstairs and get it. [00:18:31] Speaker E: But she. [00:18:32] Speaker A: Suppose I browse through my room and get it. [00:18:36] Speaker E: Get it? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You go ahead and browse. [00:18:39] Speaker G: Sure, Fine, fine. But please hurry. [00:18:41] Speaker A: Oh, sure, sure, I'll hurry. I won't take long browsing. [00:18:51] Speaker E: Now that was it. The high sign. I'd seen Mornial Math away in action too many times as a shoplifter not to understand it. He was going upstairs to lift that book that he dropped on the bed. I knew he had never painted a picture like the one in the book. But he would now. Only he wouldn't paint them. He copied them well. I started talking automatically. You paint yourself, Mr. Glasgow? [00:19:13] Speaker G: No, no, no, no. I. Of course I wanted to be an artist when I was a boy. I imagine every critic starts out that way. But I found it far easier to write about paintings than to do them. Once I began reading the Life of Mornial Matheway, I knew I had found my field. Not only do I empathize closely with his paintings, but he seems so much like a person I could have known and liked. That's one of the things that puzzles me. He's quite different from what I had imagined. [00:19:38] Speaker E: Yes, I'll bet he is. [00:19:39] Speaker G: Of course, history has a way of adding romance to an important figure. Oh, dear, I'm running out of time here. Do you think you'll be back with the key soon? I Practically no time left. I've just got to get upstairs to the time translator. I just can't wait. I'll have to hurry now. Oh dear. I did want to see an original Matheway. I did want to. Mr. Matheway, I. Oh. [00:19:59] Speaker E: What's the matter? [00:19:59] Speaker G: The time translator. It isn't here. It's gone. [00:20:02] Speaker E: The book is gone too. [00:20:03] Speaker G: And Mathaway? He stranded me here. He must have figured out that getting inside and closing the door made it return. [00:20:08] Speaker E: Yeah, he's a great figure. And he'll probably figure out a very plausible story to tell the people in your time to explain how the whole thing happened. Why should he work his head off in the 20th century when he can be an outstanding hero worship celebrity in the 25th? [00:20:20] Speaker G: What will happen if they ask him to paint merely one picture? [00:20:23] Speaker E: Oh, he'll probably tell them he's already done his work and feels he can no longer add anything of importance to it. He'll no doubt end up giving lectures on himself. Don't worry. You'll make out it's you I'm worried about. You're stuck here, aren't you? Are they likely to send a rescue party at you? [00:20:40] Speaker G: No. Every scholar who wins the award has to sign a waiver of responsibility in case he doesn't return? No, I'm. I'm stuck here. Tell me, is it. Is it very bad living in this period? [00:20:55] Speaker E: Well, not so bad. Of course you need a Social Security card. I don't know how you go about getting one at your age. And the immigration authorities may want to question you since you're sort of an illegal alien. [00:21:07] Speaker G: Oh dear, dear, that's awful. [00:21:10] Speaker E: Wait a minute. It needn't be. I'll tell you what. Morniel has a Social Security card. He had a job a couple of years ago. He keeps his birth certificate in that drawer along with his other papers. Now why don't you just assume his identity? He'll never show you up as an imposter. [00:21:24] Speaker G: But you think I could? Won't I be? Won't his friends, his relative? [00:21:28] Speaker E: No, he hasn't got any family. And I'm about the only friend he's got. You could get away with it. Maybe grow a beard and dye it blonde. Naturally, the big problem would be earning a living being a specialist on math. Away. And the art movements derived from him wouldn't get you set an awful lot right now. [00:21:43] Speaker G: But I could paint. I've always dreamed of being an artist. I don't have much talent. But there are all kinds of artistic novelties I know about. All kinds of graphic innovations that don't exist in your time. Surely that would be enough even without talent to make a living. For me, on some third or fourth rate level. [00:22:07] Speaker E: It certainly was. But not on a third or fourth rate level. Mr. Glesgow. That is Mornial Matheway is the finest painter alive today. And the unhappiest after his last wildly successful exhibition. I remember he said to me, what's. [00:22:22] Speaker G: The matter with all these people praising me like that? I don't have an ounce of real talent in me. All my work is completely derivative. I've tried. I've tried to do something, anything, that was completely my own. But I'm so steeped in math away that I can't seem to make my own personality come through. And those idiotic critics go on raving about me. And the work isn't even my own. Well, then whose is it? Math Way's, of course. We thought there couldn't be a time paradox. I wish you could read all the scientific papers on the subject. They fill whole libraries. Because it isn't possible that time specialists argue for a painting to be copied from a future reproduction and so have no original artist. But that's what I'm doing. I'm copying from that book by memory. [00:23:01] Speaker E: Look, Blescu, that is Matheway. Don't knock yourself out. [00:23:05] Speaker G: But it's dishonest. [00:23:05] Speaker E: No, it isn't. You're deliberately trying not to copy those paintings. You're working so hard at it that you refuse to think about that book or even discuss it. As a matter of fact, when I tried to get you to talk about it a little while ago, you couldn't actually remember it. [00:23:18] Speaker G: That's true. That's true. [00:23:20] Speaker E: You're the real Monial Mathaway. And there's no paradox. You're actually painting those pictures. You're not copying them from memory. [00:23:28] Speaker G: I know in my heart that they're not mine. [00:23:31] Speaker E: All right, I'll forget it. Anyway, you're a much nicer guy than Matheway ever was then. Besides, a buck is a buck. [00:23:51] Speaker F: You have just heard X Minus One, presented by the National Broadcasting Company in cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction magazine, which this month features Lulu by Clifford D. Simak, a story which demonstrates that a spaceship should be a darb, a smasher. [00:24:07] Speaker E: A pip, a butte. [00:24:08] Speaker F: But man all battle stations if it ever becomes a sweetheart of a ship. Galaxy magazine on your newsstand today. Tonight, X minus 1 has brought you the discovery of Morniel Mathaway, a story from the pages of Galaxy, written by William Ten and adapted for radio by Ernest Kanoy. Featured in our cast were Leon Janney as Matheway, Guy Repp as the critic, Wendell Holmes as Blescu, and Les Damon as Dave, your announcer, Fred College. X minus one was directed by Daniel Sutter and is an NBC Radio Network production. [00:24:46] Speaker B: That was the discovery of more Neal Mathaway from X minus one here on the mysterious old Radio Listening Society podcast once again, I'm Eric. [00:24:57] Speaker E: I'm Tim. [00:24:57] Speaker D: And I'm Joshua. [00:24:59] Speaker B: And that is a listener request, right? [00:25:02] Speaker D: Yeah, it was from Mark. [00:25:04] Speaker B: Mark, that's right. Thank you, Mark. Here, we're going to start it off this podcast episode with a really strong old man moment. Where have I heard this before? Did we do this in some way, shape or form? [00:25:20] Speaker D: We did it many years ago at James J. Hill. [00:25:23] Speaker B: We did perform this. [00:25:24] Speaker C: Yes, we did. [00:25:25] Speaker B: Thank you. Because I was listening to this and I was going, I know this story. How do I know this story? [00:25:32] Speaker C: Why do I feel like I've said this before? [00:25:34] Speaker B: Right. Okay, good. So that explains that the discovery of. [00:25:42] Speaker D: Mornial Mathaway holds a dear place in my heart. I had this episode on an X minus one cassette set in high school that I listened to throughout high school and college. And it was part of what made X minus 1 a favorite of mine in terms of all time radio shows. [00:26:02] Speaker B: On a boombox on your shoulder. [00:26:04] Speaker D: Yes. [00:26:05] Speaker C: Break dancing on the street corner. X minus one. [00:26:09] Speaker D: X minus one, Boogaloo. Yes. And this one was always one of my favorites. [00:26:19] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, we say at the top here about the parody of this or the writer of this, that that's humoristic in its approach. [00:26:28] Speaker E: Right. [00:26:29] Speaker B: The lighter tone satire kind of thing. I will say that, yes. X minus one does that all the time. Glaringly satiric, satirical. This could also fall in the other category of just a straightforward science fiction time travel piece without considering any satire. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, yeah, I like the story itself of the conundrum of, oh, that guy's a famous painter. Because I made him a famous painter when I went back in time and made him a famous painter. [00:27:01] Speaker D: The Bootstrap Paradox is what that is called, which I've always been fascinated with as a science fiction trope where you have this object or information or person that is completely contained in a loop where there is no real beginning, essentially is created by the future. [00:27:25] Speaker B: Right. [00:27:27] Speaker D: And it sort of hurts your brain. Yes. [00:27:30] Speaker B: Yeah. I don't really see the satire of this. I see it as a good piece of time travel science fiction. [00:27:37] Speaker C: The satire is heavy on the front end. [00:27:39] Speaker B: Okay. [00:27:40] Speaker C: I would say. [00:27:40] Speaker D: But also the way you're using this language right now is like you're using satire as bad. You're like, I don't see this as satire. It's a good drama. So you're defining satire as something you don't think you want. [00:27:52] Speaker B: Well, you know, my love affair was satire. [00:27:54] Speaker D: Yeah. So how do you differentiate satire from humor? [00:28:00] Speaker B: Yeah. And that's the thing I've always got to try to get over is that satire to me, always. My first inkling is, oh, you're making fun of something. You're belittling something that you don't think is worthy. So this would be satire, would be belittling this trope of time travel and isn't this silly? Instead, this comes across not as that, it comes across to me as a good philosophical time travel piece. [00:28:26] Speaker C: Yeah. I found the satire heavy on hack artists. [00:28:29] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:28:30] Speaker D: Yeah. And it's interesting because it takes the time to parse out bad artists from good artists. This isn't just an anti intellectual tirade about modern art. It identifies Morneel Matheway as a imposter. [00:28:49] Speaker B: Right. [00:28:49] Speaker D: Because the narrator, the poet who apparently has no future, according to the art critic, who has no idea who he is, but he says two painters have told me Mathaway sucks. My wife's a painter, my critic friend. So I think that's what makes the satire targeted in a way. It's not this generic stab at art. [00:29:16] Speaker C: I will say that my favorite part of this whole show is the no holds barred abuse that just is constantly streaming about. Like no one sugarcoats any criticism of anything. [00:29:28] Speaker D: Wow, this stinks. [00:29:29] Speaker B: Yes. [00:29:30] Speaker C: Do you have anything else I could look at? [00:29:32] Speaker B: Terrible. [00:29:33] Speaker C: Just like show me a couch. Anything that's not this. [00:29:37] Speaker B: It reminded me of myself walking through the modern art section of the Chicago Museum of Art. I don't know what it's called. The Big one. Doesn't matter. I went through the modern art section and my wife had enough in about 10 minutes because that's what I sounded like. [00:29:53] Speaker E: Come on. [00:29:55] Speaker B: No, no, that's not. And then also when he was describing his art, it made me laugh because that's how I see it. This is just slaps of paint on top of slaps of paint. Yeah, I know. Isn't that great? No, this is. You know, how. So there was a jab at modern. [00:30:11] Speaker D: Art, but it was a jab at his modern art. Because from my point of view that I get really tired of the. Ironically, this anti intellectual critique of abstract expressionistic art that at some point becomes just as sclerotic and parochial and exclusionary as the elitism it claims to be skeptical of. You know? [00:30:36] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:30:36] Speaker D: So you just have two ends of elitism. Kind of. [00:30:39] Speaker B: I want to be clear. I don't think it shouldn't exist or that people can't enjoy it. Just not my cup of tea. Just not my deal. But it did remind me of my thought in my head when he was looking at his art. Except he was really mean to that guy. [00:30:59] Speaker C: So mean. [00:30:59] Speaker B: So mean. [00:31:01] Speaker D: It's set up because Glescu, I think that's his name, tells them they are only allowed to time travel every 50 years. Usually it's historians, not art historians. And he only has so much time. So what's nice is he has no time for bs, right? This is a chance of a lifetime. And he finds out that his hero is a fraud. [00:31:21] Speaker B: Right. [00:31:21] Speaker D: Or that he ended up in the wrong place, or it's some terrible mistake and he's used up his chance to travel through time and experience this. [00:31:30] Speaker B: Wouldn't it be interesting to write the other half of this story that we don't get to find out? And that is when the real Mourneel arrives in the future, what he does. [00:31:41] Speaker D: I assume it looks a lot like what we're doing right now. He just becomes a podcaster because that's where all talentless bloviators. [00:31:52] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:31:53] Speaker C: It's funny. No time travelers come back to see us. [00:31:56] Speaker D: I don't know why that is weird. [00:31:57] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:31:58] Speaker B: You guys change nothing. All right. On my way listening to this. [00:32:03] Speaker C: Because I did remember that I remembered that we performed this. That's the bias to which I was listening to it. As opposed to like the first time, how many ever years ago of Do I like this story. That sort of usual thing. I do. That's how I sound. [00:32:20] Speaker B: It's a good impression of you. [00:32:21] Speaker C: Thank you. To be very sort of character note specific from that angle. I really enjoy this. The sense of humor of our poet narrator who's just sort of happily morally gray of like, I'm gonna pay back all that stuff that he stole on my behalf. [00:32:40] Speaker D: Sure. [00:32:41] Speaker B: Yep. [00:32:42] Speaker D: Yeah. And I like just the honesty when he's talking to his critic friend of like, well, yeah, he's terrible to be around, but we have this great relationship based on shoplifting. [00:32:51] Speaker G: Right. [00:32:52] Speaker B: Right. [00:32:52] Speaker D: A mutual need of stuff. And I'm not gonna give that up. [00:32:56] Speaker C: And it's a fine bit of writing to make Mourniel the jerk that he is and not just wanna, like, I need to leave this room now because I can't stand this character. He is delightfully awful. [00:33:09] Speaker D: Yes. He's fun to be around. Awful. You want to see large intestine rampant. I wanna see that painting. [00:33:19] Speaker B: Yeah. All the intestine pieces. [00:33:23] Speaker D: Intestinal period. [00:33:25] Speaker B: Right. [00:33:25] Speaker D: Oh. One of the reasons I really liked this when I was young is that I Love X minus 1. But a lot of times the characters are dated. Even if the big high concepts aren't. They work today because the unintended dangers of technology still resonates with us today. Stories about racism. The X minus one does. Stories about government overreach. Like, all these things resonate today. But it's told through characters who still have a nagging space wife at home. Right. And their space children still say gee whiz and call their dad pop and things like that. Space pop. It's dated in that way. But Morneel Mathaway, if you have ever been part of an art scene still, despite his hipster lingo of the day, resonates as. I know that guy. [00:34:21] Speaker B: Right. [00:34:21] Speaker D: I may have occasionally been that crowd. [00:34:24] Speaker B: Yes. Right. [00:34:25] Speaker D: And it feels more modern than some of the other characters in X minus one. [00:34:31] Speaker B: I also appreciated that it was 20 minutes. [00:34:37] Speaker D: Yeah. It's very lean and it uses its time effectively. [00:34:40] Speaker B: I Exactly what I Was going to say like I did that sentence for the laugh. But then also the reality is thank you not only for making it 20 minutes, makes it easier for me to listen to quicker, but it doesn't need any more meat in this. Anything else would just be extrapolating or expanding on something that would be unnecessary. They get to the point and it's really well done that way. My question though is what did they do back in the day with the other 10 minutes of the show? Was that a 10 minute ad for Chevrolet oil or, you know, by this. [00:35:18] Speaker D: Time they're all transcribed. So I'm sure when it was actually aired it was peppered with commercials. [00:35:25] Speaker B: Yeah, it's got to be 10 minutes of commercials. It's a lot of commercials for back then. [00:35:30] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:35:31] Speaker B: Because you know, you'd get one minute bricks. [00:35:34] Speaker D: Radio is becoming more and more commercial. They don't specific sponsors anymore. [00:35:39] Speaker B: Suspense. Went to three commercial breaks about that time. But still grand total of time four minutes. [00:35:47] Speaker D: Some of the late 50s suspense episodes are 22, 23 minutes long. [00:35:52] Speaker G: Wow. [00:35:52] Speaker C: So you think this might be X minus two? I'm so proud of myself. [00:35:58] Speaker B: Wait, that joke is funnier if you're gonna see Tim's face. [00:36:03] Speaker D: Tim's face always makes things funnier. [00:36:06] Speaker C: The dog who tells a joke and then smiles real big because it's so proud of itself. [00:36:09] Speaker E: Right. [00:36:11] Speaker B: See what I did there? [00:36:14] Speaker D: I also appreciate how this speaks to this universal imposter artist. But it's very much of its time. All the artists they name check are very contemporary artists. Picasso, Rua and Wallace Stevens. Snaffle the Stevens. That's the poet that our narrator wants to read. And Wallace Stevens just died and won the Nobel Peace or not peace. The Nobel Prize for literature. Wow. He also, yeah, poetry created world peace. But I just find that fascinating that it was so much of its time but still spoke to me in 1980, whatever, when I was listening to it on the street corner in my boombox in the 21st century playing the three card Mahdi. Yeah. And even shades of today, the comment about, well, without a Social Security card, you might get a visit from the immigration office. This was two years after Eisenhower's Operation Wetback, which is still to this date the largest mass deportation of immigrants in US history. [00:37:23] Speaker B: Wow. [00:37:24] Speaker D: And we hope it keeps that record. Right. That was very topical then. And becomes topical for many reasons. [00:37:32] Speaker C: Again, we've been kind of hitting on the imposter artist theme without actually mentioning the return of it at the end. That the actual talented artist, the one who's Creating air quotes, creating the work feels like a total imposter because he's just. I'm not making this. [00:37:48] Speaker D: Yeah. So there is that argument. The narrator. [00:37:50] Speaker C: No one gets the satisfaction of creating something that they are proud of. [00:37:54] Speaker D: And the narrator attempts to explain away the bootstrap paradox. This was always you who created it. This always came from you. But it ultimately matches the future. So the questions that Gleskiu raises are very legitimate. And it leaves you with a. Oh, right. And I think that plays into the bigger idea that makes this slightly more complex is I think there's something really meaningful about pairing the bootstrap paradox with art in that we know the winners write the history books, so they also write the art history books. And so in some really real and meaningful way, art is created by the future. In some sense, its meaning and legacy can be completely reshaped. [00:38:44] Speaker C: And if, I mean, this guy ultimately is like any artist, like, there's the stuff I saw that I enjoyed and it's going to influence what I make. He just feels, because of the circumstances, like I'm just copying what I saw before me, which is kind of what all artists do. [00:39:01] Speaker B: It's exactly right. We're all influenced. [00:39:03] Speaker D: We. [00:39:04] Speaker B: Let me take myself right out of that sentence. Artists are all influenced by artists. And your interpretation of that, there is nothing really all that original ever. It was all influenced by something or inspired by something. [00:39:23] Speaker C: You just can't make a perfect copy. And that's what makes it original. [00:39:25] Speaker B: Right? Yeah. [00:39:27] Speaker D: And to some degree, the story at the top is telling us about Morneal Mathaway, this artist who does not have art in him. And it doesn't seem to be subjective, it seems to be objectively true about him. [00:39:43] Speaker C: You are objectively bad. You are nobody's favorite. [00:39:48] Speaker D: Yeah. And so then, even when we have an amazing artist at the end, the supposed real Morniel Matheway who comes from the future, he still feels that there's nothing objectively good about what he's doing. So I don't know, there's just. I can't put my finger on it, but I feel like there's just a lot under the surface here about what gives art meaning and value. [00:40:11] Speaker B: It's this. If you think you're good, you're not. If you don't think you're good, you are. That's another whole topic, by the way we just brought up that fascinates me. I don't. Not that wouldn't launch me into an opinion, but I'm fascinated by what becomes. That's Good art, and that's bad art I'm fascinated by. [00:40:35] Speaker C: And it can change over time. [00:40:37] Speaker D: But again, that's why, like the Bootstrap paradise, it seems like it's not. It doesn't matter what the art was when it was created, but who decides. [00:40:45] Speaker B: It and how that comes about. A collective of people all agree that's good and that's bad. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, and then it becomes mainstream. And then it also drives the price of that's worth that much money. And then it gets into the idea that art is manipulated by some kind of secret society that you get involved in. And if they choose you, your art gets. You know what I mean? Like, it's just like it's a club that you gotta be accepted into. [00:41:14] Speaker C: And it's fascinating to me, the idea of we could hang up like four different things that were like illustrations, and maybe one of them's by a little kid, one of them's by an established artist and different things. And could you. What level of expert artist analysis could come in and identify, this is good, this is bad? Would they agree? [00:41:36] Speaker B: Exactly. [00:41:37] Speaker C: Would they recognize, okay, like, this is outsider art. So it's not technically good by normal standards, but as a piece of artwork, it has this groundbreaking sort of boundary breaking quality to it. And all these. The degree to which there is objective quality that you can identify. I went to school for smart. [00:42:00] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:42:01] Speaker C: So I feel like there is some. [00:42:03] Speaker B: To me, it's a really easy line. The more it looks like a photograph, the better artist you are. [00:42:11] Speaker C: Or you're a camera. [00:42:12] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:42:14] Speaker E: Wow. [00:42:15] Speaker B: That looks just like a real picture. Good job, you. [00:42:22] Speaker D: But it's interesting though, is the origins of Eric's joke really come from this. [00:42:30] Speaker B: What's with the ellipses before the word joke? [00:42:34] Speaker C: Oh, what's the word for what you just said? [00:42:38] Speaker D: But the 1950s, in. It's like post World War II, the Center for Art did move from Paris to New York. And art was becoming something that the culture was more aware of. And if you listen to other radio shows from this era or CBS Radio Workshop does so many episodes that are parodies about modern art that blurs into the birth of advertising, like Mad Men type of stuff, where they were culturally realizing the power of art. But to Eric's point, a lot of people felt alienated by this abstract or expressionistic art. And so you get a lot of these jokes about, like, my kid could draw that, or oh, it's hanging upside down and you didn't even know it type of stuff. But the irony is the very public, very popular criticism of modern art just ingrained it that much more and made it more and more mainstream and part of the American culture. So you know you've made it when everybody's making fun of you. [00:43:46] Speaker A: Hooray. [00:43:47] Speaker D: It's not in high school. [00:43:50] Speaker E: Dang it. [00:43:51] Speaker B: 1980S Joshua on the street corner Hip hop, heavy to the horne this is the discovery of more Neil Matheway. [00:44:03] Speaker D: You sound just like me. [00:44:05] Speaker C: It's like you took a picture of him. [00:44:06] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:44:09] Speaker B: I painted that picture in everybody's head. Should we vote? [00:44:12] Speaker D: You remind me. Have I ever told you how much you remind me of my friend Eric in junior high? [00:44:19] Speaker B: No. [00:44:19] Speaker D: Who also. [00:44:20] Speaker C: You guys go to junior high together? [00:44:21] Speaker D: No. [00:44:23] Speaker B: It took me. It took me a long time to get out. [00:44:26] Speaker D: He would come, tell me everything I enjoyed was stupid. Oh, no. But specifically, I was into comic books, so I'd, like, excitedly show him a comic book that I loved and every artwork and be like, well, that's not realistic. [00:44:41] Speaker B: Is that how I am? [00:44:43] Speaker D: Their muscles are bigger than their head. That's not realistic. And the only artists he liked were artists that looked. Again, photographic realism. [00:44:51] Speaker B: I should hang out with this guy. Should we vote? [00:44:56] Speaker D: Yes. [00:44:57] Speaker B: Stands the test of time. Really well produced, really well written, really well acted. And I like the story a lot. And I'm glad it's not longer than that, because I think that could have actually hurt it, you know, like, okay, we get the point. Instead, it's like, there's the point and we're out. And so I don't know if I'm gonna go with classic, but I'm gonna go with really, really good. [00:45:21] Speaker C: I might go with classic because this is now kind of a old chestnut trope kind of time travel story that there have been a lot of versions of, but I don't think it was the case when this was produced. But it still holds up very well in comparison to all its subsequent copycats, which I think is an impressive accomplishment. [00:45:44] Speaker D: Yeah, I think Robert Heinlein had written the first Bootstrap Paradox story and named it a couple years previous. But it's definitely one of the more mainstream versions of this Bootstrap Paradox. [00:45:57] Speaker B: What did Heinlein write? [00:45:59] Speaker D: It has Bootstrap in the title. [00:46:01] Speaker C: Bootstrap Jones Desperados probably was. [00:46:06] Speaker B: That's our new improv group. [00:46:09] Speaker C: And also, I agree that it's bold choice to be. 20 minutes worked much to its credit because it didn't feel like it skimped on anything and felt like the characters got all the. Do they needed. And it was. It's fun. I liked it. And I would be. I'd love for us to perform it again because it's good. [00:46:27] Speaker D: It's called By His Bootstraps. That was the name of the story. [00:46:30] Speaker C: And the Desperados. [00:46:33] Speaker B: By His Bootstraps Jones and the Desperados. [00:46:37] Speaker D: I agree with Tim. I think this is a classic for its. Its humor, for its satirical nuance. I found the performances very appealing and funny. But also I Enjoy how William 10, again, as you said, in 22 minutes, manages to kind of have his cake and eat it, too. It is both a fun, zippy little parody and its satire, as we said, is very localized. On the surface level, it is just about art imposters in Greenwich Village in 1957. But it also asks a lot of these deeper questions about art, about how you define it, what gives it value, what gives it merit. So a tricky little piece. I think so, yeah. And just nostalgia. It has a special place in my heart. Like I said. So an impartial classic from me. [00:47:38] Speaker B: Thank you so much, Mark. And also thank you for reminding me that I actually performed this. [00:47:43] Speaker C: You were outstanding. [00:47:44] Speaker B: Was I? [00:47:44] Speaker C: Yes. [00:47:45] Speaker B: Was I? More Neil. [00:47:46] Speaker C: I don't remember. [00:47:47] Speaker D: Oh, I think you just made the. The sound of the time machine. You were just going. And you're like, good job, Eric. Have another Eric treat. [00:47:58] Speaker B: Tim, tell him stuff. [00:47:59] Speaker D: Please. [00:47:59] Speaker C: Go visit ghoulishdlights.com hey, take a little time in your day. Visit a website. You'll find other episodes there. Of course, you can find our podcast wherever you get your podcasts, but if you go to gluechlights.com you can leave comments and vote in polls. You can also find a link to our swag store, spreadshop. Get a T shirt. Get a mug. Get a T shirt and a mug. You know, if you want a T shirt, you can spill stuff on from your mug. And you'll also find a link to our Patreon page. [00:48:26] Speaker D: Do we have mysterious old radio dribble cups? That way they just have to keep buying more T shirts. [00:48:33] Speaker B: Like, oh, or how about Morals Onion gum X ray specs. Morals X ray specs. [00:48:42] Speaker C: Awesome. [00:48:44] Speaker D: Those little gum packs with the mousetraps. [00:48:47] Speaker B: With the mousetraps in them. Yeah. Yeah. [00:48:50] Speaker D: Now our swag site sucks in comparison. Imagination. Yes. Go to patreon.com themorals and support this podcast. We've got so much great stuff on offer. Bonus podcasts, happy hours, book clubs, Discord. You get to hang out with the mysterious old radio community. So please become a patron today. [00:49:22] Speaker B: Hi. This is Eric from the future to tell you that you could come and see the mysterious old Radio Listening Society Theater company performing live on stage. Live radio drama. We do classic recreations of old time radio shows and also a lot of our own original work. You can find out where we're performing, what we're performing and how to get tickets by going to ghoulishdelights.com and there you will get all that information. We'd love to see you there if you're a Patreon. We do record the audio and you do get to listen to them as part of your Patreon perks. So either way. But come see us if you're in the neighborhood, meaning the Twin Cities of Minnesota in the year 2025. Oh, the Internet. What's coming up next? [00:50:13] Speaker A: Oh, it's me. [00:50:14] Speaker E: Hey. [00:50:14] Speaker C: Up Next is 20 Minute Alibi from Casey, crime photographer. [00:50:19] Speaker D: Until then, everything we're doing is 20 minutes long.