 Family Theatre presents Mitzi Gaynor, Scotty Beckett and Jean Ruth. From Hollywood, the Mutual Network in Cooperation with Family Theatre presents Transcribed Outnumbered, starring Scotty Beckett and Jean Ruth. To introduce the drama, here is your hostess, Mitzi Gaynor. Thank you, Tony LaFranco. Family Theatre's only purpose is to bring to everyone's attention a practice that must become an important part of our lives. If we are to win peace for ourselves, peace for our families, and peace for the world, Family Theatre urges you to pray. Pray together as a family. And now to our little comedy, Outnumbered, starring Scotty Beckett and Jean Ruth. Over, dear. Yes, Mom. Come over here and sit down. What are you pacing around for? I don't know. I just don't feel so good. You mustn't be nervous. Roger wants you to come with a firm and he's been planning on it. I know, I know, and I want to work here too, Mom, but, I mean, after all, it was Dad's business. You mustn't think of it as lost, son. Your father had to sell that stock. The important thing is that Beaman Electric still carries his name, and yours. And Uncle Roger is president. Well, that isn't what's getting you the job, Wilbur. I couldn't get one anywhere else. That's nonsense. You got through college, didn't you? And anyhow, I explained to Roger that... You don't mean you told him. No, no, no, no, not about that. I just explained that you wanted to specialize in promotion or industrial, whatever it was. Relations. Mr. Beaman? Yes? Mr. Roger will see you now. Oh. Would you care to wait, Mrs. Beaman? No, thank you, Ms. Temple. I'll be going. Mom, what if he finds out? No one will find out. Just get hold of yourself, Wilbur. Remember your Claire Beaman's boy. I'll see you at dinner, dear. Mom. Good luck and give my best to Roger. Mr. Beaman, will you follow me, please? Oh, yes, yes. Mr. Roger? Ah, Wilbur, come in, my boy, come in. That'll be all for now, Ms. Temple. Yes, sir. Well, sit down, sit down, Wilbur. How are you, my boy? Just fine, Uncle Roger. Well, now that you're all through college, I suppose you're ready to take over the business. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Well, no, not exactly, sir, but I do want to get to work. That's the spirit, son. You sound like your dad when you talk that way. Well, I hope I can be a little like him, too, sir. Want to be like a beaman, ha? Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Yes, sir. Be like a beaman. Yes, sir. You will be, Wilbur. I have no doubt of that. Well, Uncle Roger, how did dad come to sell his stock? Mom's never told me. Oh, nothing secret about it. He simply made a bad outside investment, only one I ever knew him to make that was bad. And he had to sell his holding here to cover his losses. I see. Do you know who bought the stock? I know her very well, indeed. Miss Letty Carson, a very shrewd old lady. You'll be meeting her. Will I? Yes, in fact, she's very anxious to meet you, expecting big things from the son of Claire Beaman. Well, you know, Uncle Roger, I don't have many of the same talents that dad had. Now, now, Wilbur, no false modesty. If you've inherited an iota of your father's grasp of the intricacies of corporate finance, you'll be more than worth your salary. Well, you see, I was thinking maybe there was something well less complex I could start at. Would you have any openings in promotion? Oh, our advertising agency handles all that, my boy. Well, how about industrial relations? Maybe I could sort of go around and see that all the workers are content? When they aren't content, they come and tell us, Wilbur. Here's something. Yes? Mr. Winkler, our assistant shipping room foreman, started on his vacation Friday. You can fill in down there until he gets back. Shipping room? Yes. You check way bills, invoices, that sort of thing. All you have to do is be able to add and subtract. Add and subtract? Yeah, that's all there is to it. So I want you to roll up your sleeves and show us a sample of that good old Beaman brainwork. Yes, come in. Mr. Winkler, I, oh, excuse me. I thought. Mr. Winkler is on vacation. Good afternoon. I'm Wilbur Beaman. How do you do? I'll just be here while he's gone, maybe not even that long. Oh, well, I'm Patsy Lawrence. How are things going? Awful, just awful. Maybe I can help. Let's see. This form is our regular shipment invoice. Regular shipment invoice? The units going out are listed in that column. You just add them up and subtract the total from the last figure on this stock card, and there you are. There I am. Just a second. This card looks like it's off. Would you check that last column of figures for me, Mr. Beaman? Figures? Yes, just this one column. Well, let's see. Seven and nine, or? That's 16. Yes, 16. And six or 21? You mean 22. Why, I mean 22, yeah. And eight or 31? Mr. Beaman, are you being funny? No, Ms. Lawrence. Oh, well then what? All right, I might as well admit it. I can't add or subtract or any of the other things you're supposed to do with numbers. You're joking. I am not. But your father was a wizard with figures. I can't help that. I still can't add. I've tried to learn how to memorize what things like six and eight add up to, but it just slips away. Well, I've seen everything. You won't say anything about this. Of course not. And you'll help me? All I want is a chance. I'll try all I can, Mr. Beaman. I just wish tomorrow was behind us. How come? Because tomorrow, you and I have to take the monthly inventory of the stock in the shipping warehouse. And your uncle always comes along to supervise. He hasn't missed once in 22 years. Oh, no. I'm afraid it's no use, mama. I just can't learn to add. I never was much good at figures myself, dear. How do you want your eggs, scrambled? I was up till 2 this morning practicing, but it's hopeless. Now, now, son. Nothing's ever that bad. But, mom, Uncle Roger comes along on these inventories. He helps check every item in the shipping warehouse, and I have to add them up right in front of him. Well, that seems rather routine work for the president of the company to bother with. Well, that's what I thought. But Patsy, Miss Lawrence, says that Uncle Roger believes the shipping warehouse is the most important part of the whole business. He calls it our strongest link with the customer. Well, I'm sure you and Miss Lawrence will work something out. At times like this, I sure wish I'd inherited Dad's flair for arithmetic. You've inherited a lot of his quality, son. But I think you've got too many of mine mixed in with. I couldn't have too many a year as mom. Ah, that's very sweet, Wilbur. I'm afraid I never was a hand for details. Always had to rely on my intuition. Well, does your intuition tell you what I ought to do if Uncle Roger asked me to add up some figures for him this morning? Well, I'd just start adding. Fast as I could and see what happened. I think I know what'll happen. Well, you might be surprised, Wilbur. You might be very much surprised. Oh, good gracious, 7.30. Let me get your eggs. You'll be late. Good morning, Patsy. Good morning, Mr. Roger. And you, Wilbur. Good morning, Uncle Roger. All set to get on with the inventory? All set? Yes, sir. Well, suppose we start down there on the west wall and work up this way. This should be interesting. I've never taken an inventory before. Nothing to it, my boy. Nothing to it. We simply add up the various units of stock on the floor, tabulate them on these forms, and that's it. Suppose we start with this split lot of small generators. I'll just go around here to the side of the stack and see if they're piled in an unbroken rose. Patsy, I'm getting worried. Keep calm. That's the big thing. Keep calm. But what if you? Wilbur! Yes, sir? I didn't notice around in front there how wide across their stack. I counted the rows five high. How many does that make in each layer? Well, let's see. There's one, two, three, four. 25 all together, Wilbur. 25 all together, Uncle Roger. Thanks, thanks. 25, all right. 25 times five. What's that give you per layer? What's that give me? Well, let's see. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Wilbur, you can't count that high on your fingers. What's it come to, my boy? 25 times five is 125. So 25 times five is 125, Uncle Roger. I can multiply, Wilbur. I mean, are there any broken stacks up front here? Broken stacks? I don't see anything broken. No, no, Wilbur. I mean stacks that are incomplete. Here's one. And there's another over there. We've got quite a few. Yes, I see. Broken stacks. Take down these figures, Wilbur. Figures? 12 rows of 125. Yes, 12 rows of 125. Well, how many's that give you? Let's see. Well, one row of 125 is 125. And two rows would be twice that many. Wilbur, what's the matter with you? I can tote that up if you want, Mr. Roger. While you call out the figures on the broken stacks to Wilbur, Mr. Beeman. Very well, Patsy. Ready, Wilbur? Ready. One stack of 117. 117. Two of 124. Two, 124. One of 118, two of 116. One of 118, two of 116. Got that? Well, I've got it written down. Fine, now what's the total? The total? The total. Add them up. Well, seven and four are the... Yes, yes, go on, Wilbur, go on. I just started adding. Fast as I couldn't see what happened. You might be surprised, Wilbur. You might be very much surprised. Wilbur, will you add up the figures? All right. Seven and four are 12. 12? 17 and eight are 24 and six are 29. Carry the two. Wilbur, is this your idea of a joke? Two and one are four and two are seven and one is nine. Wilbur Beeman, are you serious? And one, two, three and one is five. There. A total of 599 small generators. Seven and four are 12? That's the way I see it, Uncle Roger. Why, why, you don't know enough arithmetic to get out of kindergarten. I never went to kindergarten. Well, this is our disgrace. Our whole business is tied up with costs and production estimates and sales figures. Good, Uncle Roger. Don't talk to me. To think how I've looked forward to the day when you could take over the range. It's your secretary, Mr. Roger. She says Ms. Letty Carson is waiting in your office. Tell her I'll be right over. Ms. Letty Carson? Well, that's the lady who owns a controlling interest in the company, isn't it, Uncle Roger? Yes, yes. And Mr. Roger, your secretary says Ms. Carson is very anxious to meet Mr. Wilbur. Oh, no. Tell her he's not here. Your secretary's already told her he is. She wants you to bring him over right over. Oh. All right, all right. Say we'll be right over. But Wilbur, if you so much as open your mouth unless Ms. Carson asks you to, I'll. No, I won't, Uncle Roger. I promise. You go and put on your suit coat. I have to stop off in the production offices. I'll meet you up there, and we'll go over together. All right, Uncle Roger. Thanks for helping out, Betsy. Not at all, Mr. Roger. Well, I guess that does it. I'm just not fitted for the work. Oh, here, you might as well take these inventory figures they may give you a few laughs. All right, Wilbur. What did I say, seven and four word? 12. What's the right answer? 10? No, 11. Well, anyway, I had it surrounded. But thanks a lot, Betsy, for trying to help me. Come back and visit us, Wilbur. Sure. Well, goodbye. Goodbye, Wilbur. Crazy guy. Oh, look at these figures. Seven and four are 12, and out of it, he gets 599. Wait a minute. Seven and four are 11, and four are 15. Why, it's crazy, but Wilbur, Wilbur. Oh, he's gone. Oh, I've got to catch him. I've got to get over to the front office before he leaves Ms. Carson. I want to talk to you about this right away. Why, certainly, Ms. Teddy. It's very important, won't keep. Who's this young man? This is my nephew, Ms. Teddy, Wilbur Beeman. He just. So you're Claire Beeman's boy. Yes, I'm. Well, I must say, you don't look like him. No, I. Oh, that's all right. I don't care how people look as long as I think straight. Dear young man, what do you make of these figures? Well, they, uh, they look rather complicated. Of course they're complicated. They're specifications for that new defense installation that's going to be built outside of town. Just picked them up in my lawyer's desk. But what about them, Ms. Letty? They concern our business. That's what's about them. Big installation like that uses a lot of electrical equipment. I want us to make a bid for the contract. Why, of course, of course. I'll put the engineering department on it right away. No time for that, Roger. I told my lawyer and I gave him a promise that we'd give him a bid by 10.30 this morning. But, Ms. Letty, we can't estimate the cost of a job like this in 15 minutes. It'll take weeks. Not this morning. It won't. It'll take 15 minutes. Ms. Letty, it can't be done. Yes, it can. And I'll raise your Claire Beeman's boy here, the one who can do it. What a job like this will cost millions. Really, Ms. Letty? I'm not very good at this sort of thing. Oh, nonsense, boy. Stop figuring. Just estimate the whole cost and add 6%. Operator? Operator, give me hillside 4381. Wilbur, stall, stall. I'm trying to. Oh, Roger, leave the boy alone. How can he figure with you breathing down his neck? Hello, Johnson. That government man get over to your office yet? Wilbur, if you're crazy enough to give Ms. Carson a figure. But, Uncle Roger, I don't want to. All right, Johnson. All right. You can tell him I'll have the estimate ready in. Wilbur, how long are you going to take with that? Well, I really can't say. How do you get two more minutes? It's impossible. All right, three minutes. I'm depending on you, Wilbur. But, Ms. Letty. Oh, shut up, Roger. Johnson, hang on. We'll have it for you no time. I thought I told you no calls. I'm sorry, Mr. Rogers. It's me, Patsy. I have to talk to Wilbur. Not now. Not now. Please, Mr. Roger. I'm out here in your front office. What's going on over there? It's for me, Ms. Letty, out in the office. Very important. I'll be right back. Wilbur! Be right back. Oh, Wilbur, I had to see you. Patsy, you saved my life. All right, every day. What do you mean? Where are you going? Away, anywhere. It doesn't matter. But thanks for getting me out of there. I just got you out of there to show you these inventory figures. Then you're going to go right back there and do that estimate. Go back? Look, every sum you did was wrong. Every single sum. That's why I'm getting out. Everyone wrong. And for a total, you got 599, remember? Yes, but. So I added them up correctly. And do you know the answer I got? What's the difference? 599. 5? You're kidding. No, I told it up three times. 599. Some coincidence, huh? Wilbur, maybe if you got one column of seven figures right, that'd be a coincidence. But Patsy. But getting the correct answer for three columns of seven figures, that's more than coincidence. And there's only one explanation, Wilbur. What do you mean? Your father. That's what you've inherited from Claire Beeman. An instinct. An instinct for the right answer. So go back in there and use it. But Patsy, dad didn't have an unerring instinct. And in fact, he made such a terrible mistake once it cost him control of the company. You can't let yourself think about that now. All right, I'll do it. Wilbur, what have you been doing? No, I was just out there. Over here. Time's almost up. Look over these specifications and give me a figure. Miss Letty? Yes, Wilbur? I think we can do this job for $1,648,000. What? That's a boy, Wilbur. Johnson, you're still on the wire? Wilbur, have you gone crazy? She asked me, so I told her. Johnson, tell him we'll bid $1,648,000. Where did you get such a figure? It just came to me. It came to you. That's fine, Johnson. Fine. Yes, you can reach me at home as soon as you're here. Goodbye. Miss Letty? Good work, Wilbur. Your dad himself couldn't have figured that as to bid any faster. You've got to listen to me, Miss Letty. Wilbur is the right young man, Roger. You need more like him around here. I'll be up at the house if you want me for anything. Goodbye. Thanks, Wilbur. Good morning, Jennifer. Good morning. Uncle Roger, I want to explain. You don't have to explain anything. I see what this is. It's revenge. Revenge, oh no. You're trying to wreck the company. I wouldn't do a thing like that. Well, you'll wish you hadn't. When I get through with you, you'll be so deep in the penitentiary. But I just wanted to help. Shut up. Yes. Oh, no, she just left. Who is this? Oh, Mr. Johnson. Say, listen, Johnson, is there any chance that you're what? They said, what? Uh, hi. Yes. Well, well, thanks. No, goodbye. Anything wrong, Uncle Roger? Wilbur, how did you arrive at that figure? Well, it just arrived, why? It was within $400 of the official estimate the government made itself. Is that good? It's phenomenal. They gave us the contract. Well, I hope the business will help the company. Wilbur, just what was it Patsy told you when you stepped outside? Well, maybe you'd better ask her, Uncle Roger. Well, that's the craziest thing I've ever seen. Go on, Wilbur. Do another column of figures. Yeah. Gosh, Uncle Roger, I'm getting tired. I've done four already. And he gets the right answer every time. He had to stretch his luck on that last one. If he hadn't decided three and four were nine, he'd have got it wrong. Well, I can tell you, I was pretty frightened with that estimate, Uncle Roger. I kept thinking at the time Dad's instinct deserted him and he lost the company. Oh, that wasn't your dad's instinct that deserted him, Wilbur. What do you mean? It was your mother's. My mother's? Yes, you see, it was your mother who had the instinct. And your father always consulted her on every big decision. Except the one that cost him the company. Well, that wasn't your dad's fault. He tried to reach her that day, but he couldn't. He had to act fast, so... Well, then it's really mother I have to thank for, well, for being able to get the answers right. Considering the way you do it, I'd say so. Why, Wilbur, if that's so, I'm going to find you a very difficult person to work for. Patsy, how can you say that? Because you've inherited the very thing that gives most girls an advantage in dealing with men. I have? Yes. And I'll tell you what it is. If you promise never to use it on me. Well, I promise. What is it? A woman's intuition. Gaynor again. Did you ever hear the little story about the musician who made an early appointment with Brahms at the home of the old master? Well, he arrived and was shown in by a servant who explained that Brahms was still sleeping and that he did not wish to disturb him. After waiting a polite interval during which Brahms did not appear, the visitor went to the piano and struck a single loud minor chord, like this. Now anyone who's ever studied music knows that a minor chord mirrors anxiety and tension and that a minor chord suggests incompletion. Well, it just begs for a satisfactory resolution. Although he was still asleep, Brahms heard the minor chord as it crashed into a subconscious. With an uneasy start, he awoke. But still no major chord. He hastily dressed, rushed downstairs, and hastened to the piano and struck the major chord, like this. Well, that little story gave me a thought on prayer. Sometimes our whole uneasy lives are like minor chords, full of anxiety, tension, and frustration. But through union with God, which we achieve through prayer, there need never be a sense of incompletion. The major resolving chord is a few simple words. Oh, Lord, thy will be done. Family theater again reminds us. The family that prays together stays together. More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. In Hollywood, family theater has presented outnumbered, starring Scotty Beckett and Jean Ruth. Mitzi Gaynor was your hostess. Others in our cast were Verna Felton, Lorraine Tottle, Mary Ann Cape, and Fred Shields. The script was written by John T. Kelly, with music composed and conducted by Harry Zimmerman. I was directed and transcribed for family theater by Joseph F. Mansfield. This is Tony Lofranow expressing the wish of family theater, that the blessing of God may be upon you and your home, and inviting you to be with us next week when family theater will present Mother of All, starring Anne Blythe, McDonald Kerry, join us, won't you? This is the Mutual Broadcasting System.