Synopsis: 'Around The World'

Around The World - 4/6/1953 written by Morton Fine and David Friekin Starring Van Johnson Van Johnson played the narrator, George Miller; other actors in the cast were Ted Osborne, Cameron Andrews, Larry Haines, Alan Hewitt, Dan Ocko and Steve Roberts. The program was ''direct from the Grand Ballroom of New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel, Autolite and its 98,000 dealers brings you Mr. Van Johnson in tonight's presentation of Suspense''. Van Johnson introduces himself as George Miller, one of the contestants in the first (and only) International Car Race which took plce in 1908: New York to Paris by way of Siberia. His opponents included a French team led by Bautier de San Chamfre, a German team led by Lt Hans Von Coppin, and an Italian team led by Anthony Scafolio. It's 1908, Lincoln's birthday, and Miller and his team have 40 cyclinder, 60 horsepower car taken from stock, the Thomas Flyer. Everyone else had cars built especially for the race. Miller's teammates are Montague Roberts - maps and motors and Mr. Colby - newspaper correspondent, Combined News Services. Newspaper correspondent Mr. Colby gives much of the comedy relief of this episode, as a journalist he spends much of his time sleeping in the back seat of the car (''When a journalist has seen one tumbleweed, he can close his eyes and envision millions of tumbleweeds.''). He also predicts, during one particular rainy day, that soon someone would invent a top to go over cars so that its drivers wouldn't get wet. Miller tells the tale in a dry fashion, with little vignettes (helping the French car out of the mud only to get stuck themselves, riding on the railroad tracks to get over a river, only to be chased by a locomotive on this bumpy road) interspersed by listing of dates and places passed through and the position of their competitors. They go from Buffalo to Chicago, arrive in San Francisco, then to Seattle, then the cars are loaded aboard a steamer for Alaska, and they soon arrive in Valdez. ''It's very cold. They gave us a cup. They showed us a smaller cup they were saving for the Frenchmen.'' They leave Valdez for the Yukon and the Bering Straits. ''We were thankful for the foresight of bringing chains along.'' It was cold, 20 degrees below 0. ''Three days and we only covered 22 miles.'' Colby remains true to form. ''Tundras. When you've seen one of them you've seen them all.'' Many more adventures await the Americans as they sail to Yokohama, drive across Russia, and finally arrive in France, over 20 days ahead of their competition. ''Around The World' is a change of pace episode, a fun tale of the first International Car Race (which will be more familiar to today's listeners through the movie starring Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon). External Websites The Great Auto Race

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