 presents Debbie Reynolds and John Lund. From Hollywood the Mutual Broadcasting System in cooperation with Family Theatre presents the Cliff starring John Lund. And now here is your hostess, Debbie Reynolds. 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. Now to our transcribe drama The Cliff starring John Lund. I got to thinking more and more about the mountains as Helen and I drove south along the coast road. They're big here, right on the ocean, big and endless. You can drive through them for hours and the picture is always the same. A steep rocky wall rising up on one side of you and a sharp sudden drop falling away on the other and far below the Pacific. Forming into the shoals like angry quicksill and spraying itself up the cliffside. We just come around a curve and started down hill and I noticed that the steering wheel was tugging to the left. Is anything wrong Joe? Feels like the left front tire has gone flat. You sure they checked them this morning? Well everything tires, batteries. We better pull off the road and have a look. Is there any place we can? Yeah down at the foot of this hill on the left. It's one of those little observation areas. They look very roomy. Oh sure it is. That's what they build them for. For what? Look at the ocean. Park your car and look at the ocean. Take snapshots. Send them back to your relatives in the east. For somebody with a flat tire you're sure full of fun. Well you're no flat tire honey. Oh how sweet. That's just a rumor going around the neighborhood. Matter of fact you're a doll. Well your observation area still doesn't look very roomy. Well you could park half a dozen cars there. Joey you're getting awfully close to the edge. Okay okay. There. You feel safe? Hmm those rocks down there. Yeah just about. Did I put the emergency on? Hey you want to unlock the trunk while I get my coat off? We're gonna have to change the spare. Honey 10-15 minutes maybe. I certainly hope we're off this coaster before it gets dark. Oh we'll make it don't worry. Some weekend vacation. Hey Mrs. Kraus huh? Dandy Mr. Kraus. Just dandy. Hey now don't tell me. What's the matter? Part of the jack seems to be missing. Oh no. That black iron gizmo that you set on the ground under this. We can't change the tire without it. How could it be missing? I don't know honey. Kids playing around in the trunk. Maybe it slipped down back in the suitcase. Maybe. I doubt it. Here balance that on the edge a minute. All right. I want to feel around under the back seat. Okay go ahead. You don't have to take the suitcase all the way out. You won't have room to get in there if I don't. Well don't wrestle around anymore. It's too heavy. No. Gee I wish I had a nickel just a nickel for every time I told those kids to stay out of the car. What? The other side. No no nothing. I'm telling you. Is there anything else you could use to brace it? No. We'll have to flag somebody down on the road and borrow a jack from it. Hey. There's a car just starting down the hill. Oh thank heaven. Come on honey. Let's wave them in. That was a real crate that car. Over 20 years old. More junk hanging on it than I ever saw in my life. There was a ladder tied onto the roof. A long box strapped on the running board with a garden hose and a shovel sticking out of it. And lashed down to the front of the radiator between the headlights was a lawnmower with its handle sticking up in the air like a flagstaff. I thought the driver, an old fellow, was all alone. As he swung off the road and pulled up to where Helen and I were standing I saw that he had a little boy about nine years old riding next to him in the front seat. His arms wrapped around a small cuckoo spaniel. What's the matter folks? Are you guys? No we got a flat and part of my jack is missing. I think we can fix that up. I got one in the back you can borrow. Oh that's wonderful. Think nothing of it ma'am. These mountains are a bad place to get stuck after dark. Uncle Jack can I watch? Okay Zanny but you and me won't keep away from the cliff over there. Sure Uncle Jack. Come on you know it. And don't make me tell you twice now. I promise Uncle Jack. Kids you gotta keep right after me. Oh don't we know it. Oh you got children of your own? There two of them. Our oldest Jimmy's about the same age as your nephew. Oh Sandy's not my nephew. He's my grandson. That Uncle Jack business is his idea. He doesn't have an uncle. He's always one at one. So I was elected. Oh here can I give you a hand with that? Okay. Got things jammed in here. Yeah there's a little rusty but I think it'll do the work. Oh I don't know what we would have done if you hadn't come along Mr. Kiefer ma'am. John H. Kiefer. I'm Joe Krause. This is my wife Helen. No yet. Not nearly as glad as we are to know you. I'm happy Sandy and I could be of any assistance. See where is that young scamp anyhow. He and the dog were playing right over there by the road a minute ago. Yeah I had him in one corner of my eye most of the time. I know he didn't come anywhere near the edge of the cliff. I would have seen him. Sandy. Sandy. You suppose he might have wandered down the road. No I told him often enough about not getting out on the highways. Faye isn't on the path or something over there. They're back by the road leading down into the rocks. Let's see. Sandy. Sandy. I can't understand why he doesn't answer. The minute the old fellow said that I knew we were into something. You know the feeling it gives you to yell for one of your kids when you know he's close by and not have a answer. Sandy. We started down the path through the rocks. The three of us. Kiefer in the lead. Calling out to his grandson over and over again. Sandy. Then the ground slopes a little down alongside the observation area and came to a sort of a dead end up against the back wall of the cliff. It was like a pocket hollowed out in the rock. You could hear the surf far below beating on the other side of it. There didn't seem to be any way through down to the beach until Kiefer noticed something. A narrow cleft in the rock over to one side. Look that must lead somewhere. It doesn't look wide enough for anyone to get through. You can see daylight through it down lower. Sandy. Sandy. Hey you might have climbed down there. Doesn't look too steep. Listen. That's Nemo. Nemo. Nemo. Hey boy. Sandy. Sandy can you hear me? Sandy where are you? I'll take it easy honey. Doesn't sound like he's hurt. We'll get you out Sandy. Don't worry. We'll get you out. Did he fall? Can you see him? No. I think he climbed down to the beach but... Well loggy. It's a little dangerous. How come he can get back up here if the boy can't? That's a boy. What am I going to do? What am I going to do? Hold on to yourself Mr. Kiefer. We'll get him out of there. This cleft is open at the other end. Now if he's down on the beach he's safe for the moment. No. No. No. He's not. The coast along here is all shoals and rocks. The tide's still out. That's why he's on dry land down there but once the water starts to rise it'll get him. There's no place he can go. Let's see how narrow this crack in the rocks is. Now if I can just get my shoulders flattened out. Maybe. Maybe. What a chance. Joe maybe I could squeeze through. I don't know. It looks even narrow when you get inside. Well let me try anyhow. Okay. All right. I can just get... Is this one plate? Oh honey come on. You're gonna hurt yourself. Wait a minute. I can almost... Now come on. It's too narrow. We'll find another way down. Sandy we're coming. Don't you worry. Is it dry where you're standing? Look. There's gonna be another way down to that beach. We'll take a look over the other side. All right. And don't worry. We'll get him out. Come on. Get you out Sandy. Don't worry. Kind of funny the kid can't get back if he got down there. Well he said the rocks were slippery. Yeah. I guess you have to take his words. Joe. Does that look like something? Well let's see. No no. It's not even a path. This whole section along here is nothing but smooth rock. Just drops off right down to the water. I was thinking it if there was somewhere down to the beach. I don't see one. And maybe we could get a rowboat or something. And if we had some ham we could have some ham and eggs. Well I'm just trying to think. Yeah I know I know but there's no path and no boat so let's forget it. I'm sorry honey. It's all right. Let's go back and see Kiefer. I didn't mean to bar catch her. I know it's all right. Kids boy I'm telling you they can do it. They can really do it up. Mr. Kraus. Yeah. Did you find anything? No. I guess that's the only way down. Uncle Jack. Listen. We're right here Sandy. Listen. Ask him if he can see up the cliff when he looks out toward the ocean. Sandy. Can you look up and see the cliff where you are? Have you got a rope in your car? There's some clothesline and a few short lengths of horses but we can't get a rope down to him from here. He couldn't reach it. I was thinking we might lower it down over the cliff. Put a weight on one end of it and swing it under the rocks to where he's standing. I don't think I got that much rope in it. Take almost 50 feet. Oh Lord. I never should have let him get out of the car. Hold on now. Hold on. How much time we got before the tide starts to come in? Maybe an hour. Maybe not that much. You stay here and keep calling down to Sandy while we get that rope out of your car. If anybody drives by we'll flag them down and send for a rescue school. That isn't enough time for that. No. Maybe there isn't. That's why I'm gonna get the rope. When I climbed back up through the rocks to where the cars were parked there wasn't a sign of anyone on the road so far as we could see in either direction. Kiefer was right about his rope. Even after I tied it all together it was less than 30 feet long. And all the time I was working I could hear him down in the pocket alongside the cliff. Calling out to his grandson trying to keep up the little guy's nerve. It isn't long enough is it Joe? No. Joe it's our fault. They never would have stopped if we hadn't waved to them. I know don't you think I know? I'm sorry Joe. I feel so guilty about that kid I can't even think straight. There's got to be a way. Let's take another look over that cliff. You think he's on the beach right below us here? Well he's below us but probably over a little that way. We can only see him. Not the way this cliff slopes out. Yeah that's the problem. But yeah I wonder. The face of the cliff sloped down and out for about 20 feet before cut back under the rock store the shoreline. It was like a big awning hanging over that section of the beach where Sandy was trapped. Now from the top of the cliff the rope wasn't long enough to reach him. But if someone were to climb down as far as the edge of the slope they'd be able to look over it see where he was standing and maybe pick up enough distance so that the rope would reach him if we were dropped from there. There's nothing at all for you to hang on to. You don't need much. The surface is jagged enough for a foothold besides the way it slopes all I have to do is keep leaning back against it. I can't lose my balance. I don't want you to do what you might fall. I'm not going to fall. You might. Well even if I did it's just water I could swim. It's not just water. The rocks are way out on either side. That's not what I mean. I won't even be near them. It's less than three feet of water. It drops off. You can see the bottom Joe if you fell from here you'd break your neck. It wouldn't be from here it'd be 20 feet less. I'll even saw it. I'll have the rope around me all the way down to the ledge and I won't take it off until I'm set. Joe please it's too dangerous. Honey it's all we can do. You better go get Kiefer while I check this rope. We're gonna need him. At the time Helen came back with the old man I had one end of the rope under the back bumper of our car. I didn't want to put any of my weight on it going down unless I had to because it was mostly clothesline. But Kiefer seemed to think it would hold Sandy if we could get it to him. You're gonna need something to wake that rope with when you drop it to Sandy. Yeah have you got anything like a big washer or something with a hole in it so it won't slip off? I think so. Wait a minute. I had an old steel brace with a bolt hole punch through one end of it. Yeah this ought to work. It's not too big but it's pretty heavy. Yeah squall. As soon as I get down to the edge of the slope you untie the clothesline from the bumper and drop it down. Okay. But wait till I'm down there before you go and tell Sandy what we're trying to do. Do you really think they can get the rope to him from that ledge Mr. Krauss? I sure. Sure I do. At least I couldn't see how it would hurt to say I did. I let myself over the edge of the cliff without looking at Helen because I knew that if she told me once more not to do it I wouldn't. I started down slowly feeling for rough places with my feet stopping to rest whenever I found him. All the time I kept my face pressed against the side of the cliff and my arms stretched out hugging the rocky wall as hard as I could. Couldn't have taken me more than a few minutes to get down to the edge of the slope but as I sank to my knees and started to unknot the rope around my waist I noticed something and it started to get dark. Yeah yeah I'm okay honey. We're gonna have to hurry Mr. Kiefer. There isn't much sunlight left. I know. I'll untie this end of the rope and drop it down to you. Look when you untie it kind of coil it up so it'll drop down in a lump. All right. I don't want it to get away from me. You bet. Yeah be right back. Yeah peachy. No I'm gonna have to turn around first. I'll wait till Kiefer drops the rope. I'm okay down here. Don't worry. Here she comes Mr. Krupp. I got it. You better go tell your grandson what we're gonna do now. Tell him to walk out onto the beach toward the water as far as he can and look up. Then I'll explain what I want him to do. You get that steedway tight onto the rope real tight. I'm gonna put it on right now. Tell Sandy not to worry. Just do as I say. I will. Good luck Mr. Krupp. Yeah thanks. I took my time turning around toward the ocean. I didn't dare look down until I was sure I had myself balanced right. Hunched low almost sitting against the face of the slope. I finally felt secure enough to pull myself forward and look down over the ledge. The first thing I noticed was that the tide had started to creep in. There was a stretch of sand maybe seven or eight feet of it that the water hadn't touched yet but it was bounded on both sides by rocks that ran out into the surf. The rope was our only chance. Then as I was watching Sandy appeared from under the canopy of rock below took a few steps on to the beach and stared upward toward the cliff. Right here fella. Can you see me? Wave if you can see me. Yeah yeah that's what I'm gonna do. Now listen to me. Pay close attention so we won't make any mistakes. I will. I'm gonna lower this rope to you. Can you see it? I'll start to let it down now. Oh that's just an iron weight to keep it from blowing around in the air. It's kinda cute huh? Yeah. Yeah I'm gonna give you a ride. Ever had a ride on a rope? Yeah that's right all the way. It's gonna cost you ten cents too. I always charge ten cents for my rope rides. You watch now. I'll show you a trick. I'm gonna make the rope swing back and forth a little bit. First it'll go out over the water like that. Then it'll swing in towards you like that. And when it gets close enough can you reach it? With both hands like a baseball. Now here it comes again. I once more now grab it hard and hold on. He had it. And the little guy was so proud of himself that he didn't notice he was standing in surf up to his ankles. Here. Here. Now can you loosen the rope through that hole in the piece of iron? It's just a big loop if you open it up. Yeah. Like hoppy uses you know. Now. Now I want you to put it over your shoulders and then lift your arms up through it and then pull it tight. You're sort of lassoing yourself. You see? No don't let that piece of iron get around in back. Keep it in front so it won't dig into you when I start pulling you up. Oh, a big fellow like you isn't afraid of a little water, are you? No. Yeah, that's it. Twist the rope around. Now hold it straight and I'll pull it tight under your arms from up here. There. There. That's it. That's it. Are you all set now? Now. Just relax. Hang limp. And here we go. I felt the rope pull taught in strain as I lifted Sandy into the air. My knees seem to be clamped against the rock and the rope wrapped around my hands been into the like hot wire. I didn't dare look down anymore. I didn't dare think about that little boy dangling out over the shoals below me. I just started to pull and pray. I felt the knots in the rope moving through my fingers as I hauled it up one and another and another. I tried not to think how quickly I tied them more than one loose knot would mean. Then I felt another and another and it seemed that somewhere inside me I could hear Helen and old man Kiefer saying you can do it, Joe. You just gotta do it. You can do it, Joe. You just gotta do it. You can do it, Joe. You just gotta do it. You just gotta do it. I just gotta do it. I just gotta. I gotta. I gotta. I looked up from the rope and craned my neck out over the edge. There he was, hanging in space, less than a foot below me. But I couldn't reach down for him without loosening my grip on the rope. My arms were so tired there was almost no feeling after them. Sandy. Sandy. You're gonna have to help now. Not any further. I got to hang onto the rope. Now look, put your arms out. That's right. Up in the air. Yeah, yeah, almost. Now I'll lean forward and you grab around my neck. That's right. That's right. Now lock your fingers tight, real tight. That's it. That's it. Now hold on while I lean back and hold you up. My fingers are going home. Hold on. Hold on. I can't. You're all right, fella. You're all right. Nothing to cry about. You keep on balling. I think you didn't like your rope ride. That was a pretty brave thing you did, Mr. Kraus. We got kids of our own. I know what it's like. Well, I'm not a rich man. I haven't got much, but if there's ever anything I can do. Say, there is something, Mr. Kiefer. I almost forgot about it. Any excitement? Anything. Anything I've got in the world. Well, uh, well, you suppose I could borrow that jacket yours now? This is Debbie Reynolds again. Had a little informal gathering the other night, the topic turned to prayer and a friend of mine was asked, what's the world's best prayer? I thought he would say the Lord's Prayer or the Ava Marie or something like that. Instead, I must confess I was very shocked when he quietly announced the alphabet. I thought he must be teasing, but the alphabet isn't prayer, someone protested. But he proceeded to prove the opposite. The alphabet he began is one of the few tools that man has that's almost infinite in scope. It's an immense treasury. It contains all the thoughts that the wise men of the past have ever shaped and expressed and all the beautiful thoughts that those yet unborn are going to express. Since God is wisdom uncreated, man needs something as vast as the alphabet to praise him. In its tungeless combinations, the alphabet contains the sigh of the wind, the dance of the rain, the sweetness of growing things, the rush of the river, the unrest of the sea. All of these things expressed or yet to be expressed are communications with God according to the laws in which he made them. I began to see what my friend meant. I was almost breathless with the beauty of it and the others were hanging onto his words. But he didn't stop there. Since everything he added comes from God, we need something of almost infinite content to give him back some of his fullness and perfection. That's what prayer is, giving him back some of his fullness and perfection. The treasures of the alphabet are as yet unexplored. In fact, they are almost inexhaustible, just like the treasures of music. That's why I insist that the alphabet is the world's best prayer and the world's prayer book. For in its limitless combinations, it becomes the cry of finite man to an infinite God language. Isn't this thought beautiful? Family prayer is beautiful too. For the family that prays together stays together. More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. From Hollywood Family Theater has brought you transcribed The Cliff, starring John Lund. Debbie Reynolds was your hostess. Others in our cast were Lillian Bayef, Herb Butterfield, Richard Beals, and Earl Key. 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 state, 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 that the blessing of God may be upon you and your home and inviting to be with us next week when Family Theater will present at 155 pounds, starring Michael O'Shea. Barbara Hale will be your hostess. Join us, won't you?