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Program Title
Intro SIGNS AND WONDERS/Episode 2/Intro by Russell Baker The Palmores are a family in deep trouble. Their daughter Clare has run away to Los Angeles and committed her life to a religious sect run by a man everyone calls "Father." Clare's real father is a vicar of the Church of England. With his congregation dwindling away, he senses his life has been a failure. He has started drinking too much. And he is incapable of expressing sympathy or love for Clare or his son Stephen. He has made it pretty plain to both that they are disappointments to him. Steven, teaching at the university, has serious problems too. For one thing, he is under the power of an old school chum named Pierce, now a rather nasty government intelligence agent. The one strong member of this crumbling family is Elizabeth Palmore, wife and mother. She loves them all and is determined not to let them go down without a fight. Last time we saw her fly secretly to Los Angeles to try to reclaim daughter Clare from the power of "Father." For this purpose she has retained the services of a man named Diamond. Diamond is not a de-programmer of the brainwashed, he tells her. He is "an exit counselor for victims of mind control." "De-programmer" or "exit counselor," Diamond and his group kidnap Clare and bring her to her mother. Clare's response is hysterical, cold and unforgiving. She thinks her mother is in league with Satan. What's more, the FBI is pursuing both Elizabeth and Diamond as kidnappers eligible for long prison sentences. Signs and Wonders, concluding episode. Extro SIGNS AND WONDERS/Episode 2/Extro by Russell Baker The mind control dealt with in tonight's story is a fairly new variety. It dates from the Korean War when GIs who had been prisoners came home preaching communist doctrine. Americans were terrified. Suddenly the country was filled with talk about a new horror called "brainwashing." Many believed the Chinese had a magical new way to take possession of people's minds. There was a fictional treatment of this in the novel and movie "The Manchurian Candidate." There, an American GI is programmed by Chinese brainwashers to commit a murder that will change American politics. This was great fun to read, but the magic was nonsense. Psychiatrists quickly learned there was nothing magical about brainwashing. It was a simple system of rewards and punishments, not so different from training animals. It seemed to work best on soldiers who were deeply dissatisfied with their lives -- poorly educated, relatively unsophisticated men who were vulnerable to suggestions that Asian Communism could lead them to more satisfying lives. For Masterpiece Theatre, I'm Russell Baker. Goodnight.  Episode number: 1 2
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