DIMENSION X - Pebble in the Sky (Isaac Asimov)

DIMENSION X
Pebble in the Sky
Jun 17, 1951
Isaac Asimov wrote a novella for the sci-fi magazine Startling Stories. He titled it Grow Old with Me. Startling Stories was not able to publish it, so Asimov expanded the story to novel length, changed the title to Pebble in the Sky, and sold it to Doubleday, the largest book publisher in the United States at that time. It was published it in 1950, and a year later was adapted to radio by Ernest Kinoy. It aired on Dimension X June 17, 1951.
Over the course of a 50 year career Kinoy wrote for radio and television, film and stage. He was a staff writer for NBC at the time he adapted Asimov's novel for Dimension X. In it, we see a populated universe, countless centuries in the future, after a radioactive event pushed Earth to the bottom of the galaxy's social order. Notice how aware 1950s America was of the possible destructive consequences of radiation. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were never far from people's consciousness and fear of atomic energy, radiation, and nuclear bombs was pervasive.
HISTORICAL GLOSSARY
At the start of the radio play the host describes Earth as "a backwater in Galactic culture". Backwater is literally a term for the tiny tributaries and small creeks connected to a river which are not affected by the river's current and therefore become stagnant. These areas of the river are called "backwaters". And by association, a city or town which is undeveloped and where the general culture is outdated and stagnant is called a "backwater". Essentially a place described as "a backwater" is the opposite of somewhere cosmopolitan.
When Arvardan is approached by Pola in the department store he says, "Perhaps I resembled a floorwalker, for a young Earth girl came up to me and asked a question." Today if you are in a store and need help you have to find an employee who is in the middle of something else, like stocking shelves, and interrupt them to ask where something is, or general information about a product, and half the time they don't know. In 1950 there were employees whose only job was to walk around the store and help customers. They knew where everything was, information about specific products, and information about the store in general. These employees were called "floorwalkers".
A voice comes over the loudspeaker in the department store and the script notes read, "VOICE: (OVER P.A.) Attention! Attention, please!" P.A. stands for "Public Address". And it is usually stated as a "P.A. System". Essentially it is the loudspeaker or microphone over which someone can speak to a large group.
When Arvardan is mistreated the Colonel says, "Well, Dr. Arvardan, we seem to have had an unpleasant contretemps in this city this afternoon." A "contretemps" is an incident that is inconvenient or embarrassing. The word originally described a fencing move done at the wrong time or a misstep in a dance.

[@sandeakilpatrick2386]

Very good. I agree; it makes me want to read the book.

[@sylviahoffman9440]

I usually have difficulty with Asimov's stories. I am never sure if he is referring to a scientific principle or a social obscurity and get lost, as a result. I was a bit confused during the incarceration sections. I might have gotten lost on the who's whos and their objectives. (Perhaps the read would clarify things....) But it may be moot being a couple years past the 60 - too old???? 😂 This reminds me of the Star Trek episode " A Taste of Armegeddon".