 represents Jean Lockhart. From Hollywood, the mutual network and cooperation with Family Theatre presents A Dog's Life. And now, here is your star and host, Jean Lockhart. 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, to pray together as a family. And now, to our transcribed drama, A Dog's Life starring Jean Lockhart as Arthur McVeigh and featuring Herb Butterfield as Paul Lewis. By four o'clock that afternoon, Paul Lewis was back in town. Duck Whitley over at Cass City had said that he'd bored the dog until the weekend and Paul figured with the Strickland's leaving Thursday morning the whole thing might blow over if Brownie the dog was out of the way. After all, if the boy hadn't teased him so, it would never have happened. But when Paul drove up to the house, Mrs. Strickland was sitting on the front porch next door. She got up as he swung into the driveway and he could see that her right hand was bandaged. Mr. Lewis, I want to speak to you. Where is it now? Where did you take that dog? I got rid of him. That's not what I asked you. Mrs. Strickland, he's gone. That's all you got a right to know. Well, you'll see what I've got a right to know when my lawyer gets through with you. I took him to a place where he won't be deviled by some young moron. Charles, come out here. I suppose your nephew's all bandaged up, too. He's bitten in three different places. He was bitten once and it was just a scratch. Yeah, Nora. Come here, Charles. Come on out here. Show Mr. Lewis what that crazy dog of his did to you. He's already seen it. Do as I say. Come over here. Now, my wrist. I'm sorry, boy, but it wouldn't have happened if you'd left the dog alone. I didn't do anything to him. I've seen your teeth in poking sticks through the fence. Charles never touched the animal. There's gravel all over my backyard he tossed in at Browning. Oh, that's nonsense. By the handful. He could have put out one of the dog's eyes. Well, he wasn't in your backyard when that dog attacked him this morning. You asked the boy who opened the gate. I didn't touch it. Mr. Lewis, that back gate has an inside lock. It's got an inside bolt. And you can open it from the alley just by reaching over the top. I didn't touch the bolt. I was just going by and Browning came out at me. Boy, why don't you stop lying? Well, we'll see who's lying, Mr. Lewis. You think because we're leaving town tomorrow that, well, this thing has ended. What do you want, Mrs. Strickland? Money for Dr. Bills? Dr. Bills. 15 cents worth of bandages and iodine. By that dog could have killed us. What do you want? I make a living with my hands. I'm a cosmetics demonstrator. Is there anything wrong with your hands? A big gash across this one. Can I see it? And it'll leave a scar. Can I? No, you can't. It's all bandaged. Do you want me to get blood poisoning? I'll ask you what's wrong, Mrs. Strickland? What do you want? Compensation. I earn a livelihood with my hands. You mean you're going to sue me for damages? Well, I'm entitled to them if I can't work. If you can't work, why are you leaving for St. Louis tomorrow? I have to try, don't I? I can't just give up. You are a bigger liar than your nephew. You will apologize for that, Charles. You'll be sorry talking to my aunt that way. Get off my property, both of you. If my hands mutilated, I can't work. Your hands are sound as a dollar. Get out. Keeping a wild animal on the premises. I'm sorry I didn't set him on you myself. Well, Mr. Louis, so you're sorry you didn't set him on us yourself. We'll see what the court thinks about that. When the Strickland's first rented the cottage next door, Paul Lewis didn't think much about them one way or the other. Every fall, a lot of people from the north came down to Miami to take jobs in one of the clubs or hotels. As a rule, we natives do our best to make them feel welcome. But with the Stricklands, right from the beginning, Paul had had trouble. Living alone, he'd had to leave Brownie in the backyard while he was working. And young Charles never missed a chance to stir up the dog and get him barking, and that brought complaints from the other neighbors. So the next morning, when Paul watched the Stricklands drive off a little after seven, he wasn't sorry to see them go. All day at the bank, he kept trying to convince himself that maybe he'd heard the last of them. But then, about six thirty that evening, while he was finishing up the dinner dishes, I rang his front doorbell. Yes. Mr. Paul Lewis. That's right. My name's Arthur McVeigh. I'm an attorney. May I come in? Of course. What can I do for you? Sit down. Thank you. I represent Mrs. Nora Strickland. She said you had been told to expect me. She's really going through it at home. I beg your pardon? She's going to sue me? Well, in my estimation, she has a sound case. Says you. Did she tell you how that nephew of hers— Mr. Lewis, there's no point in your shouting at me. I've been retained to handle the matter. That's my job. Well, you're not doing it very well. If you're going to take that woman's word for what happened— I have no intention of taking her unsupported word, but according to the testimony of an impartial witness, your dog did attack her nephew Charles, and later, Mrs. Strickland herself. That's when she tried to drive the animal off. What witness? One of your neighbors who saw the incident yesterday, Miss McKenna. Miss McKenna didn't come out of her house until the whole thing was over. Would you care to see her after David? I don't care what she says in any affidavit. I saw, she says. I saw Mr. Lewis run out into the alley and pull his dog away from the Strickland boy. Both the boy and his aunt had been bitten. I saw the bites. I told you she wasn't there until it was all over. Yes, but it is true that your dog was out in the alley. Yes. So, there's no question of trespassing on the part of Charles Strickland or his aunt. But there's a big question. Who opened the back gate? The dog sure enough couldn't do it. What's your witness say about that? She doesn't mention it. You bet she don't. But the boy claims that the gate was unlocked and that the dog pushed it open to attack him. That little liar, he opened the gate himself. Now that hardly seems likely, Mr. Lewis. Well, he did. I'll bet on it. He was always teasing Browning. Incidentally, where is the dog? Uh, I got rid of him. Oh. What disposition did you make of him? None of your business. Mr. Lewis, if I have to, I can obtain a court order requiring you to produce the dog or to disclose his whereabouts. All right. When you get it, you come around. Well, I don't want to unless it's necessary. What's wrong with that Strickland woman anyway? I never did her any harm. And Browning, he never bothered a soul in his life till her crazy nephew came along, teasing and deviling him. Now, how long have you owned the dog? Six years since he was a puppy. Isabelle raised him herself. She wouldn't have an animal around that so much as showed his teeth to anyone. Isabelle, is that your wife? She was. I've been a widower the last two years. Oh, I'm sorry. And that dog's all I've got. That and this house. I understand you're a guard down at the Civic National Bank. Yeah. And I make just about enough to live on. So if that Strickland woman thinks she's going to get rich suing me, she's in for a big disappointment. What's the matter with her anyhow? Well, she's pretty much alone herself, Mr. Lewis. Her own husband and her brother, the boy's dad, were killed in an otter crash about six years ago. Well, where's his mother? I'm not sure, but I get the impression that she ran off with someone. Well, that's... that's too bad. But that fairy story of hers about not being able to work with a scratch on her hand, she's just trying to put the squeeze on me for nothing. Well, she's instructed me to file suit against you for $5,000. $5,000? That's a daisy, that is. But I'm sure that she'd be glad to settle for less. She'll settle for nothing. That's what she'll settle for $5,000. Mr. Lewis, may I give you some friendly advice? I'll bet it's friendly. Well, it's meant to be, believe me. Now, I'm a fairly successful lawyer. And I can pick and choose my cases. Well, you picked a bad one here. Well, I don't think so. In fact, I took it on a contingent fee basis. Do you know what that means? It means you ain't been paid. It means I won't be paid until a judgment's rendered against you. And it will be, Mr. Lewis. Take my word for it. You... You're blotting. I don't have to, Mr. Lewis. As liability suits goes, this is airtight. But I told you, I don't have any $5,000. Oh, but you have a house. You have a car. They can be attached and sold. They can't. They're mine. But the court can order it. This ain't my fault. The kid opened the gate. I won't give you a penny. Well, now, you'd better think it over. You could settle out of court for half. $2,500. I haven't got it. I don't have over $200, say. Well, I'm sorry, Mr. Lewis. I'm not your sorry, a thief. Um... Did you know that Mrs. McKenna heard you threaten to sick the dog on the Strickland's yesterday afternoon? That's not what she heard. It's in the affidavit. Well, right now, I'd do it. You just go into court and say that. People looking to take away the only home a man's got and squeeze every last dollar out of them. They're no better than common thieves. After I left, Paul waited for it to get dark before he went out on the front porch. Well, he must have sat there for hours watching the moon come up and wondering what to do. Now, if Isabel, his wife, had been alive, he could have talked to her about it. She was always able to calm him down, keep him from losing his head and going off half-cocked. But she was gone. He didn't even have brownie to sit at his feet, squeezing, lifting his ears and walking past the house or a car came by. Paul never felt so alone in his life. He sat there and sat there and finally an idea came to him. The next morning, when he got to work, the first thing he did was to look in on Miss Ludwig, the secretary of the man who handled insurance loans for the bank. Mr. Lewis, I'm afraid your policy doesn't cover the sort of trouble you're in. Well, it's for liability. If someone gets hurt on my property... Yes, but I don't think that covers being attacked by a dog. That usually requires a special writer. Well, does it say it don't cover it? No, but the main thing, Mr. Lewis, the accident or injury has to occur in your property. Now, from what you tell me, this took place in the alley behind it. Well, it didn't start there. Mr. Lewis, I'm just giving you my interpretation of this policy. Yeah, I... I'm just so worried. Not that I claim to be an expert, but... No, no, you're probably right. Well, this sort of policy covers things like deliverymen who slip on your sidewalk, painters, repairmen. Well, that kind of liability. Yeah. Well, could I borrow any money on this insurance if I need it? Mm-mm. Not on a liability policy, I'm afraid. But if you have any equity in life insurance or something of that kind... Well, no, I'm afraid not. All I had was straight life and when Isabelle died, I dropped it. No one else to leave it to. Hmm. I see. I, um... I guess I'm out of luck, huh? Well, why don't you wait and see what happens, Mr. Lewis? Maybe... well, maybe it's not as bad as you think. That was Friday. In the next afternoon, I had a summon served on Paul to appear in court the following Tuesday. He spent Saturday fooling around the yard and transplanting some shrubs and hoeing up the back for a row of tomato plants he was going to put in. But it was awfully lonesome without brownie around, bouncing his rubber ball with a little bell inside it, and begging Paul to play with him. So about eight that night, after it got dark, Paul climbed into his car and drove the 20 miles out to Cass City where Doc Whitley had his kennels. Doc! Old Doc! It's me, Paul Lewis. Let me write down, Paul. How's brownie getting along? What? How's brownie eating you out of house and home? Just a minute, Paul. Is anything wrong, Doc? Didn't you get the wire I sent you? What wire? Well, I knew you didn't have a phone, so I sent you a wire this morning. Um... Brownie's dead. Brownie? About four this morning. Pretty painful, too. I didn't get any wire. I was on the back all day. Maybe they rang the bell and I didn't hear it. Paul, did brownie act kind of wild or funny or anything before you brought him out here last Wednesday? No. Well, um, he didn't scratch or bite you, did he? No. I didn't know he was sick. Neither did I. Right away. And, uh, Thursday morning, I noticed one of his back legs was kind of stiff. That's one of the symptoms, you know, paralysis. The symptoms it was. Just a minute. Excuse me. Whitley, kennels. Oh, speaking. Oh, yeah, Mr. King. Yeah, let me get a pencil. Will you hold on a minute? Now, that's the lab about brownie. Incidentally, you want them to dispose of, don't you? Well, I guess so. Mr. King, would you go ahead, please? Mm-hmm. Yeah. You say the test was definitely positive. Yeah, I kind of thought it would be. Uh-huh. Oh, sure. Well, thanks very much, Mr. King. Oh, uh, just put it on my account, and you can dispose of the animal, too, if you will, please. Yeah. Oh, sure. Fine. Bye. Doc, what's all this about? Paul. Brownie had rabies. You know, Blaine Lucky, he brought him up here when you're dead. And the sight Lucky that he didn't bite you. Pasture treatment can be pretty painful. Pasture treatment? Yeah. And you've got to get after it fast, too. Incubation period's about 10 days. Well, you know, I see. Paul, I'm sorry about the dog, but once they get it, there's nothing you can do. Is it, uh, like that with people, too, if they don't get the shots in time? They haven't got a chance. All the way home, Paul kept thinking about it. It was terrible. But so was what the Strickland woman was trying to do to him. Maybe force him to sell his home, put him out on the street without a penny. She'd be almost all the way to St. Louis now, she and the boy, and I'd told him that they didn't have any other relatives. With them gone, there'd be no one to sue him. Might even be no one who would know what happened to them if he just kept his mouth shut and sat tight. All day Sunday, Paul sat around the house trying to think it out. Now, when a robber comes into your front door with a gun, you've got a right to fight back and even kill him if you have to. And if some stranger comes along and tells a lot of lies in court and is going to cost you everything you own, you have a right to fight back. It's just self-defense. That's all it is. It's them or you. Monday morning, Paul called the bank and told him he'd be a little late. And my office was on the fifth floor of an old building on the west side. And when Paul first came in, he put a chip on the shoulder because I thought he'd come to make a fuss, but he made me change my tune in a hurry. Uh... Are you telling me the truth? You don't believe me? Call out to the kennels. That quickly will give you the address of the laboratory. And the doctor said it takes 10 days for the disease to hit? That gives him until Friday. When did you find this out? Saturday night. And you've waited two days to say anything? If I didn't have any more conscience than you were that stricklin' woman. All right now, take it easy. You save your sermons for when you talk to her. Yes, if I talk to her. What? I don't know how to get in touch with a woman. Didn't she give you an address? Just St. Louis. She said she'd write when she got there. Wasn't she supposed to have a job waking? Well, just prospects. I don't even know where they were. I guess all we can do is to wire a description to the St. Louis police and that... that don't sound like it's got much chance. Not in four days. Well, I don't know what else to try. Why don't you take a plane there yourself, at least? I wouldn't know Mrs. Strickland if she walked through that door. You wouldn't know her? No. She was referred to me by a legal aid service. I spoke to her over the phone last Wednesday night, but I've never even seen her. You take on clients you've never met? Well, that's quite common. I mail her the necessary deposition. She signs it and sends it back. Happens every day. Well, this ain't getting us any closer to finding her. Look, would you consider going with me to St. Louis? That wouldn't do any good. Besides, there's other people you could get who'd know her. Maybe. But I think if you went to this much inconvenience to help her, she might be grateful enough to drop the suit altogether. And who'd pay for the plane tickets? Well, I'll split it with you. All right. But you'd better wire ahead to the police anyway. Paul and I got off the plane at St. Louis at seven o'clock that evening. There were some newspaper reporters and a captain from the police force to meet us. For the next two days, we visited about every cosmetics counter in every department store in the city. The papers gave it as much play as they could. They printed pictures of Paul and me and even an old snapshot he had of Brownie, but nothing happened. There'd been a few false alarms, people who'd called in to say that they'd seen the Strickland's in one place or another, but the police wrote most of them off as cranks or folks who just wanted to get the pictures in the paper. The next day was Thursday and time was running out. We spent the day down at police headquarters waiting for any word that might come in. Then, about seven o'clock, we went back to the hotel for dinner. We had adjoining rooms up on the fourth floor, and at 9.30, I decided to call it a night. I didn't think I'd be able to sleep, but I finally dropped off. It was almost 2.30 in the morning when the phone awoke me. Hello? Mr. McVeigh? Yes? Captain Ashton calling. Hold on a moment, please. Sure. Who's calling? At the police department, Ashton. Anything important? I don't know yet. Mr. McVeigh? Yes? Captain Ashton, we've had a long-distance call from a woman in Chicago who claims to be Mrs. Strickland. In Chicago? That's right. We got her on another line now. I'd like you and Mr. Lewis to speak to her. Just a minute. What is it? There's a woman calling from Chicago and she says she's Mrs. Strickland. They want us to talk to her. Do you think you'd recognize her voice? I think so. Well, I only spoke to her once, but let's give it a try. Captain Ashton. Yes? We'll speak to her. Is Mr. Lewis there? I'm here, Captain. Can you hear all right? Hold the receiver up a little. All set, Captain. And Mrs. Strickland? Who's this? Who am I talking to? It's me, Mrs. Strickland. Paul Lewis from Miami. Well, it said we might die from being bitten. Now, you won't die, Mrs. Strickland. You said you'd like to set that dog on us. I'm Mrs. Strickland. This is Arthur McVeigh. Now, you're going to be all right. All you need is the proper medical attention. Miss Strickland's about the suit. Now, you go right ahead with it. Have you seen a doctor yet? Yes, a police station in Chicago. They're going to take care of everything. Well, you can consider yourself very fortunate, Mrs. Strickland. All those shots. That's it. Well, now, I suggest you go ahead and take them and worry about the expense later. Mr. McVeigh. Hold on. Hold the phone a minute. Yes? Is this woman really going to go ahead and sue me after all the trouble we've been to? Well, it doesn't seem possible, but... All the ungrateful. Look, tell me this straight. Are you sure you didn't leave the gate to your backyard unlocked the day that all got out? I haven't left it unlocked in six years. Because if you did, it's negligence, and she's got a case. Well, I didn't. The boy must have opened it. Okay. I'll try it. Mrs. Strickland. What happened? Well, I asked Mr. Lewis to step out of the room for a minute. Now, I want to talk to you privately about the suit. Yes? You say you've already mailed me your deposition. That's right. Well, did you note in it that Charles opened the back gate before the dog sprang at him? Well, mention it. I thought you said that. Now, Mrs. Strickland, you're not suggesting that I advised you to purge yourself, are you? Well, no. But then you'd better write another deposition and include that information. What? Not as bad as we've looked up till now. I'll be in touch with you, Mrs. Strickland. Goodbye. I, um... I guess I owe you an apology, Mr. McVeigh. Well, I think you're about even. And don't you worry about the suit. It'll never even get on the docket. It's... It's funny what people will do when they get desperate and lonesome. Yes. I think I'll do something about that as soon as I get home. How do you mean? Get myself another dog. And now, here's your star again, Jean Lockhart. Thank you, Tony. Each week, at the end of our family theater broadcast, you hear a slogan. The family that prays together stays together. And perhaps you wonder just how we believe family prayer can aid family unity. When we say a family that prays together stays together, we mean that God actually comes into that family. For through prayer, we include God in our family circle. We acknowledge him as the real head of the home, and we accord him one of the responsibilities normally belonging to the head of a family, the job of keeping it together. It's a great method of preventing disunity in the home. Ten minutes a day devoted to family prayer can keep love in a home, and in many instances bring love back to a home which might be on the verge of failure. It's a preventive medicine and a curing medicine, family prayer. Try it. You'll see. More things are brought by prayer than this world dreams of. From Hollywood Family Theater has brought you transcribed a dog's life starring Jean Lockhart. Others in our cast were Herb Butterfield, Helen High, Marvin Miller, Penny Santon, and Jack Krushen. The script was written and directed for Family Theater by John T. Kelly, with music composed and conducted by Harry Zimmerman. This series of Family Theater broadcasts is made possible by the thousands of you who feel the need for this type of program, by the mutual network which has responded to this need, and by the hundreds of stars of stage screen and radio who give so unselfishly of their time and talent to appear on our Family Theater stage. To them and to you, our humble thanks. This is Tony LaFranco expressing the wish of Family Theater with the blessing of God may be upon you and your home. And inviting you to join us next week when Family Theater will present the leading lady starring Mae Clark. Jimmy Durante will be your host. And on Thanksgiving Day over most of these stations, Family Theater will bring you a special hour-long presentation of the Thanksgiving Hour starring Anna Maria Albergatti, Walter Brennan, Wallace Ford, Ruth Hussie, Victor Jory, Howard Keele, Joe Stafford, and the Morro Seminary Choir from the University of Notre Dame. Consult your radio log for time. Family Theater has broadcast throughout the world and originates in the Hollywood studios of the world's largest network. This is Mutual, the radio network for all America.