 Spencer Tracey, Dennis O'Keeffe, Donna Reed, star on Family Theater. The mutual broadcasting system in cooperation with Family Theater Incorporated presents God and a Red Scooter, starring Dennis O'Keeffe and Donna Reed. Brief portions are transcribed. Spencer Tracey is your host. This week Family Theater celebrates its second anniversary. As host of the birthday program, I want to say a sincere thanks to our radio audience. Thank you for the wonderful response you have given the program during the past two years. After two years, I know I don't have to tell you what Family Theater is all about. But just in case you're a new listener, we have a play this week that just about tells the whole story. It's called God and a Red Scooter. That's right. God and a Red Scooter, starring Dennis O'Keeffe and Donna Reed. Sleep is beautiful. Sleep is a soft hand smoothing the frowns and frets on the tired faces of men. Sleep is a mother hand, rocking the cradle of the world. And do you want to know something? I pity the man who does not know how to sleep. Consider little Eddie, five years old. I love little children like Eddie. Eddie knows how to sleep. Before he went to bed tonight, he was having a talk all by himself down there in the garden. This is the way he spoke this afternoon as he sat dropping pebbles into a milk bottle. Don't I said, God? You know what I said to Daddy? I said, God did hear me. That's what I said. God, remember when I said, please give me a Red Scooter like Stevie and Tony's got? Remember when I said that about the scooter? Didn't you hear me, God? Didn't you? Look, God, I got lots of pebbles. A whole million. See what I mean? See why I love little children like Eddie? He wanted a Red Scooter. He went to sleep dreaming of a Red Scooter. And did he get the scooter? Well, I should have to tell you the whole story. In a manner of speaking, the story begins with grapes. Ginny, come here a minute. From this hill, you get a pretty good idea how it looks. Oh, the vines are beautiful, Ed. Nice, dark green. Here, let me hold Eddie for you. Be careful, Eddie. He's so wiggly. All right, I got him. Is that our land all the way to the road? Straight, clean to Route 99. That's 26 acres of good grapewood, Ginny. Don't it make you feel kind of glad just to look at it? Ah, yes. It almost makes you want to laugh and cry in the same breath, Ed. Standing here like this and looking down on our own land. Our very own vineyard. It's nice to own something, Ed. Yeah, it sure is. Cost me plenty jack too, but that's worth it. Where'll the grapes be growing? Oh, about three years. Well, it takes at least three years. Oh, it seems so long to wait. I mean, you'd think they'd just pop out. Ah, not grapes, Ginny. You've got to build up grapes here. You've got to work a vineyard. And then after three years, you know what it's going to be like down there? What? They're going to be out there on the wire trellises, those grapes. They're going to be hanging thick and heavy near those redwood stakes. And when the harvest comes, we're going to be packing in over 200 tons of the best red emperors in California. Gosh, 200 tons from only 26 acres? Yep. Oh, Ed, it's almost like a miracle. Even little Ed knows a good vineyard when he sees one. And just think, Ed, he'll be three years old when we start picking our grapes. That's right. He'll be walking. Hey, well, it takes time for kids and grapes to grow. These plans, these husband and wife plans and spoken in sunny places are delightful, invariably delightful. But I must repeat, I pity the man who does not know how to sleep. Just listen to him. Maybe I made a mistake. It's risky business. It's a gamble putting all your money into grapes. The man is worrying, mind you, at one o'clock in the morning. Could be a shrinkage, could be a bad market. Just can't afford to bump into a tough market. Look at him fidgeting with pencils and papers and doubts. The emperor should sell. Months and said empress was a good grape. But I don't know, I don't know. Maybe I should have stocked up with muskets. None did all right last year with muskets. All this at one o'clock in the morning when he should be asleep with his wife and babies. You'd think the gentleman might allow himself a gentle privilege of getting tired. At least by one o'clock in the morning you'd think he might yawn and go to bed. Why doesn't he stop fretting? Why doesn't he relax, poor fellow? I pity the man who does not know how to sleep. You're not getting enough rest, Ed. I don't start fussing again, Jean. You know what the doctor said. All this worrying will only make you... Worrying happens to be part of a grape deal. Besides, a fellow's got a right to get excited over his first harvest. We're picking in three weeks. But you're losing weight. You're not sleeping. What's eating you anyway, Jeanie? Oh, Eddie, we do have so much. A house, babies... Go ahead, go ahead. What are you trying to say? Well, if anything ever happened to you, I mean... I mean, grapes aren't everything, Eddie. Not if you're going to keep losing your health and everything. That's what's worrying you? Yes. Look, Jeanie, I'm trying to figure this out. Maybe 15, 20 years from now we'll want to take it easy. We'll want a better house than this. And the kids, well, they've got to get an education. College. Every kid we have goes to college. And then maybe some day you and me, well, we'll take a trip, Jeanie. All the way to Holland, maybe. You always said you'd like to see kids in wooden shoes. Oh, it's so nice to hear you talk like that, Ed. All right. That's the picture. Now, do you know what's painting that picture? What? Grapes. See those grapes out there tonight? I put four years into them. Every cent we own is in those grapes. And right now, this minute, I figure we've got over 230 tons on those vines. They'll be ready for the lug boxes in three weeks. If anything goes wrong with them, Jeanie, well, it's going to put an awful big dent in things. Nothing's going to go wrong with the grapes, Ed. A lot of things can go wrong with them. The trouble with you, Ed, is that you haven't got enough faith. Listen, Jeanie, you do the praying and let me look after the grapes, will you? Well, that's the way it is with some people. Their heads go whirling with tremendous worries about tomorrow. And then the next day, you'd think Edward might have a little more confidence in me. You'd think he'd stop worrying for the space of a quiet sleep and let me look after the grapes. For I do have a way with grapes, with vines and branches. And I like the man who sleeps, the man who relaxes, and who like a child rests easily in the arms of my providence. Not so with you, Edward. Edward is too full of plans, as if the plans of men were merely the plans of men. Listen to him. Sure, I'm ready to start, Campbell. I just can't wait. Where are those pickers you promised me? We're coming up the valley fast as we can, Ed. Don't blow your top, man. You got enough pickers for me? All you need. Only give me time. How soon do you think you can make it? You'll be cutting your vines with a 17th. I'll guarantee that. Okay, okay. Only make it fast. Fast as I can. Now I like vineyards. Vineyards in the fruit of the vine, thick-plustered graves all bursting black and purple in the harvest time. These are among some of the lovelier aspects of my creation. I bear no grudges against vineyards, having regard for the littlest grape. But once in a while by design, I have an eternal distaste for the haphazard and the fortuitous. Once in a while by design, clouds will gather for reasons sufficient to the ultimate purpose of things. I gather a breeze at Burbank and scoop a cool breath off the high sierras. Northeasterly, my gales go playing with the canyon dust and the sea sands at San Diego. And quite suddenly, quite perceptively, there's a mist in the Midlands in the valley of the San Gabriel. Not around the mountains, and down from the mountains, down around the flatlands of San Fernando. Nor is it any surprise there is mist also in the eyes of a woman in Fresno. It won't rain, Ed. Don't keep staring out the window. You heard what it said on the radio. But this is just a mist, Ed. You know how it is with mist. They come and go. It'll be dry tomorrow. The grapes will be dry. Wait and see. Listen. Well, it's only a little flurry of rain, Ed. Listen. Will you please listen? God won't spoil everything by letting it rain now, Ed. I know he won't. Oh, God, don't let it rain. Don't let it hurt you. Three days. Three days to harvest. I wonder how the boys feel the night over at Del Rey and Sierra Madre. I wonder if their lug boxes are floating around in the vineyards, too. What's the matter, Daddy? What's the matter? Go inside with your sister's giddy. Go inside. It worked for years. Prune, cultivate. You put every red scent you own in the grapes, and what do you get? Wash up. Man ain't supposed to cry. Man ain't supposed to cry. Believe me, I hold no grudges against vineyards. I like vineyards. But more than all the vineyards in the world I like man. I love man. I know man well, yet never do I cease to wonder at him. He is capable of so much of kindness, of charity, and of sacrifice, and yet so often, he is incapable of hope. All things you can ask of him at times save this. A little faith a little confidence. It was so with you, Edward. It was so with you those nights. What are you so jittery about, Ed? Heck man, you're going to do all right. You got a nice crop out there. I had a nice crop last year, too, Captain. Ah, I forget last year. That was plain freak weather. Well, I've been around vineyards for over 30 years, and I never stopped. Okay, okay. You got your pickers ready to start for me tomorrow? Best pickers I got. From the looks of them vines, Ed, I'm guaranteeing they'll be cutting them 300 lugs a day. Okay. I'll see you tomorrow, Campbell. Oh, Jeannie, I got a surprise for you in the k... I wonder if she's lying down again. I knew I'd find you in here, lazy bones. Say, Jeannie, I want to take you in the... What's the matter, Jeannie? You don't look good. You don't look good at all. Say, maybe I better get Doc Handley for you. Wait a minute. Always had a feeling I'd be lying here like this, talking here like this, telling you that sooner or later... What are you talking about? Ed, I'll be leaving you for a while. No. Now look at here. You just run down. Why, Doc Handley will have you fixed up in a jiffy. Come here, Ed. Sit on the bed. Now, now look at me. Do I look scared? No. No, you don't look scared, but you look... Somehow, I know exactly how it's going to be. Oh, don't leave me alone, Eddie. Don't ever leave me alone. Just keep praying for me, and maybe we'll still take that trip someday. You and me, we'll go first class, huh? All the way to Holland to see the tulips and the kids with the wooden shoes. What about it, Doc? As far as I know, and remember, I'm only one doctor. There's nothing much that can be done for Jeannie, Ed. All right. I'll get her. I'll get the best specialist in this country if I have to. Go right ahead. By the way, you can go in and see her now. She's conscious again. Hello, Jeannie kid. Hello, Ed. Hey, you're looking pretty good, Jeannie. Your faces. You're still beautiful, honey. How are the kids? Oh, fine, fine. Say, listen, Jeannie, I was just talking to Doc Handley. I know, Ed. It's all right. I'm going to get you the best specialist in the country. Ed? Yeah? I... I ask you to do something for me once. Remember? Okay, Jeannie. You asked me to pray. So, look, I'll get down on my knees right now. Do you really want me to start praying? No. Not that way, Ed. All right. Now, look, if I have to kidnap a half a dozen of the best doctors, I'll do it. You're going to get better, Jeannie. You hear me, honey? Or you're going to get better. You'll be out of here before you know it. Excuse me for barging in like this, doctors. What do you find? We're doing everything possible, sir. You'll have to be patient. Yeah. That's what everybody says, be patient. Why don't you go home and rest? Get a little sleep. Sleep? Not now. I can't sleep now. What's the matter, Daddy? Nothing. Mom's sick, huh? Yeah. I got pebbles. Look. Put them in the milk bottle. Sixteen. Twelve. Seventeen. Wouldn't you ask God to send Mom home, huh? Want me to ask God for you? Huh, Daddy? Maybe God's got cotton in his ears, Eddie. Cotton? Yeah. You can't hear so good with cotton in your ears. He can hear me. Once he didn't hear you, Eddie. When? Remember when you asked him for that scooter? Yeah, a red scooter. God didn't hear your prayers then, Eddie. Yes, he did. God did hear my prayers. Come over here. Up on my knee. Now what did you say? I said God did hear my prayers. That's so. What did he say to you? God said, he said no. Sometimes God says no, huh, Daddy? What's the matter, Daddy? What's the matter, huh? Hello? Hello, this is the Mercy Hospital. Is this Mr. Yes, yes, nurse. What's the news? Well, we wanted to let you know that... Nurse. Nurse. Operator. Operator, I've been cut off. Operator, get me Mercy Hospital. The line's dead. I tried, Gene, so help me, I tried. You can't die, Genie, not alone. Not up there in that room alone. You can't die on me, Genie. Sometimes God says no, huh, Daddy? All right. You got me where you want me. Listen to me. Please, you gotta listen now. Sure, I want Genie. When you love somebody, you don't want to see them die. You want to have them, God. You want to have them close enough to put your arms around. Okay, maybe I did want her. Maybe I did want you to say yes. Just like I wanted you to say yes to that first harvest. Sometimes God says no, huh, Daddy? Sometimes you say no, too. If that's the way it's going to be, well, you're the boss. I'm admitting it. You're the boss. Only listen to me now. I don't want Genie to die all alone without me. Hear me, God? I can take it. I can take anything, only... only don't let it be all alone for Genie. I'm asking you, God. Honest, God, I'm asking you. Hello, Eddie. What? Why, you're not... You're smiling at me, Genie. You're looking at me, talking to me. Oh, I'm really feeling much better today. Come on, put your arms around me and stop looking like a baby. Maybe. Maybe God is saying yes, Genie. Maybe he's saying yes. Night is beautiful tonight over California. For the first time in a long time, a tired man sleeps. Resting at last in the shadow of my hand, he sleeps. I might have said no. I have said no to some of my loveliest children, my best beloved. But know this always, Edward. There are times when my refusals are necessary to a plan you cannot understand. That storm upon your vineyard, that storm that drew your curse, was a blessing to a thousand other Edwards. In pasture lands, parched for the drought, 600 miles to the north. So you see at times I must say no. But tonight, Edward, I have said yes. And concerning Eddie, five years old, listen to him mixing his prayers tonight. Her father, Morton Hiffon, would give us this day our daily bread. Ever, ever and ever, and send me a splutter like Stevie's got. The small face of a child, the small lips of a child, fumbling with a prayer, getting it mixed up, getting it tangled and sweetly muddled with sleep. Listen to him. A red scooter? Oh, God. It'll be a red scooter. I've willed it, Eddie. A red scooter. Now I'll sleep, Eddie. Sleep. This is Spencer Tracy again. You know we made God in a red scooter, our traditional anniversary play, because it sums up so many of the things we want to say in our family theater. And what are those things? Simply that there is a God who loves us and watches over us. That he hears our prayers and answers them. That the happiness of an individual or a family is measured by their faith in him. And finally that the family that prays together stays together. This is the message of family theaters. It begins its third year on the air. Before signing off, I want to express our thanks to the California Parent Teachers Association, which for the second straight year has named family theaters the number one family program on the air. And a special word of thanks to so many of our audience for their letters and telegrams of congratulations on family theater's second birthday. Thank you for being with us. And God bless you. Our grateful thanks to Donna Reed, Dennis O'Keefe, Spencer Tracy, and our narrator, Rod O'Connor, for their appearances. And to Timothy Mulvey for writing our play. Original music was scored and conducted by Max Tehr. This production of family theater incorporated was directed by David Young. The supporting cast included Henry Blair, Clayton Post, Mary Lansing and Norman Field. Next week our family theater stars will be Gene Lockhart and Kathleen Lockhart in many happy returns. This series of the family theater broadcasts is made possible by the thousands of you who felt the need for this kind of program and by the Mutual Broadcasting System which has responded to this need. Be with us next week at the same time when Gene and Kathleen Lockhart will star on Family Theater. Your announcer, Merle Ross. This is the Mutual Broadcasting System.