 Ann Blythe, Dennis Day, Philip Terry, star on Family Theater. A mutual broadcasting system in cooperation with Family Theater Incorporated presents All brides are beautiful starring Ann Blythe and Philip Terry. Refortions are transcribed. Dennis Day is your host. I suppose most of us married men carry an insurance policy. We do it because we love our families and want to be sure they will always be happy, always be together no matter what happens to us. But what if you could get a policy that would keep your family together and happy while you're alive? You'd take it, wouldn't you? Well, there is such insurance and you possess it when you make daily family prayer, a practice in your home. Praying as a family will make your family love and understand each other better. It unites your family in asking God for the things you need and thanking Him for what you have received. Yes, family prayer is an insurance policy. It ensures happiness for your home. Dennis Day returns after this week's Family Theater drama. All brides are beautiful starring Ann Blythe and Philip Terry. Stand on you like this, I know. You always seem to understand. Is it Bob? For Sharon. They're going to be married right away. He told you so himself? He wrote me a letter. Oh, why couldn't I have been beautiful like Sharon? I don't blame Bob. What chance is a girl like me of happiness? A better chance maybe than the Sharon's. Oh, now you're talking like mother. Sit down, Gaila. It may help you to hear about another letter, a letter I once received. A letter like Bob's? No, Gaila. Quite another kind of letter. It's a letter that came to me when I was about your own age. Some of the events leading up to it you already know. My coming to the city, for instance, and the reason I came. But let's begin with my experience one day at an employment office. Your references are excellent, Miss Palmer. None better. But is it so necessary that you stay in New York? You ask me that when you can't even keep your eyes on my face. Miss Palmer. Oh, I don't blame you. I don't blame anyone. Sometimes I find my own eyes avoiding a mirror. And I've had a long time to get used to myself. A long, long time. Would you mind telling me how it happened? A little girl is playing in a hayloft. She falls and her head strikes against a wagon wheel. Her chin is crushed. It must have been ghastly. They were afraid I wouldn't live. Oh, come now. You mustn't feel that way. mustn't I? All these years I've been able to bear it because of one hope. Plastic surgery. Then it is possible. It must be. Oh, you haven't been to see a plastic surgeon yet? The job comes first, then when I can afford... Miss Dana, there's something I haven't told you. This isn't the first employment agency I've tried. I guessed as much. Well, I always was as softy. I'll do all I can. Miss Dana kept her word. She did all she could. All anyone could for a job applicant like Lucy Palmer. I got so I had to force myself to go out on the interviews. Force myself to come back again and see the I told you so in Miss Dana's eyes. Oh, come in. Sit down, Lucy. No, Miss Dana, this time I've merely come to say goodbye and thanks. I'm sorry, Lucy. If I could hold out even a ray of hope. I know. I've already bought my train ticket. I'll be running along. No, wait. Dana Employment Agency. Hello, Miss Dana. This is Ralph Colton again. Oh, now don't tell me to do. Yes, same old Terry. Some poor simpleton decides to marry her. Say, I know just the girl for you. She's, well, I'll send her over. Do that. Lucy, I want you to hurry over to the law office of Ralph Colton. It's only a few blocks away. Here, I'll write down the address. Why, bother? Oh, but my dear, I know you'll get the job. Not when he sees what I look like. You don't understand, Lucy. Ralph Colton is blind. I hardly keep from running all the way. People turn to stare until I realize that in my excitement I'd forgotten to turn up my coat collar. But one doesn't enter an office with face hidden by a coat collar. So the girl looked at me unbelievingly when I told her what I had come for. It was an incredible relief to be alone at last with Mr. Colton. Miss Palmer, I have only one more question. How soon can you start? This very minute. You know all the right answers, Miss Palmer. I'm anxious to have the other girl start showing you around immediately so that by the time she leaves... Mr. Colton. Yes? I want the job very much. But before you make up your mind, definitely there's something you should know. Oh? I... my face. I had an accident when I was a child and... I know how you must feel, Miss Palmer. Been handicapped since childhood myself. Went blind when I was eight. Now then, if you'll tell Miss Wildland... I'm afraid you still don't understand. The truth is that no one else would hire me. I know that you'll make a perfect secretary. But it doesn't seem fair. You're sure you don't mind that my face... You have a lovely voice, Miss Palmer. A very lovely voice. It was weeks before I even unpacked my trunk. The trunk somehow was a symbol of permanency and this couldn't last. Even when it did, I found myself unaccountably putting off the very thing for which I had waited a whole lifetime. The visit to a plastic surgeon. Now, I'm not going to tell you to relax, Miss Palmer, because I know that would be utterly impossible. Neither can I dismiss all your doubts and fears with that magic word yes. Then it's no? No, not quite that simple either, Miss Palmer. You see, the surgery necessary in your case will involve a certain degree of danger. What kind of danger? Of having the facial nerve injured. The consequence would be complete paralysis of the affected sign. If the surgery is entirely successful, I can promise you a normal face. A beautiful face even. But if not, the decision is entirely yours. A short time ago I wouldn't have hesitated. And now? Now I've found a place for myself. A place where I'm wanted, even needed. Thank you, Doctor, but I'm afraid my answer is no. In the days that followed, I tried to dismiss the whole matter from my mind as well as tried to dismiss what confronted me in the morgue. But I didn't realize that anyone else was aware of my inner turmoil. Miss Palmer, has something gone wrong? Why do you ask that, Mr. Colton? Not that I want a medal, but you seem so upset lately. I hope it's nothing really serious. Not as serious as it once seemed. Nothing I may have said or done? Oh no, you've been very kind. I can't tell you how grateful I am. It's nice of you to say that. From my own part, I want to say, well, how much I've come to depend on you. Oh, but I haven't told you the good news. Good news? Yes, the best. My kid brother, Chester, has just been admitted to the bar. And I'm expecting him in this afternoon from Upstate. From now on, the firm will be Colton and Colton. Oh. You'll like him, Miss Palmer. Everybody does. Who's there? Pardon the intrusion, sir, but could I possibly interest you in a new law partner? Yes. You're looking great, Ralph. Is it prosperity or a touch of romance, maybe? You know, I've always said you ought to appropriate a wife. Oh, Miss Palmer, this is the scallywag I was telling you about. Well, how do you do? How do you do, Mr. Colton? If you'll excuse me now. No, no, don't go on my account. I was just leaving. Oh, but Chester... Somebody I promised to look up, Ralph, as soon as I got back. Same old chat. The new member of the law firm of Colton and Colton treated me most of the time as though I were invisible or at most a pair of hands that took his dictation and typed his legal briefs. It was less than a month before I discovered, quite by accident, how thoroughly justified I was in giving way to a mounting sense of misgiving. Now look, Ralph, it just isn't good business policy to have someone like her around. At face... Check. About you, Miss Palmer? Oh. It isn't important. Just that bill of particulars to be signed. Oh, later, perhaps? No. Let me have it now. Very well. Your pen. And the line for your signature is here. Thank you. Lucy, I'm terribly sorry. About what? It was rotten to have it happen that way. Did something happen? It was no use, Lucy. You couldn't have helped here... Oh, before I forget. May I leave early this afternoon? There's something I should attend to as soon as possible. The wind blew fresh and free on my face as I hurried down my mission. That face, Chester Coden had called it, I had overheard worse things before, but never with such impact. It was with color turned down with relentless steps that I headed for the office of Dr. Albert Lowerman to arrange for the operation. The next two weeks were the longest I had ever endured. For it was two weeks until the operation. Luckily, there was the task of finding a girl to fill in for me at Coden and Coden and breaking her in. All the while, Chester Coden behaved rather guiltily toward me. Ralph was more considerate than ever. So tomorrow's the day, Lucy. Yes. We'll miss you a lot. It's very kind of you to say so. You don't know what it's meant to. But the new girl is caught on remarkably well and by the time I come back, you'll probably prefer her. I hardly think. Must you submit to the operation? That's a strange question, Mr. Coden. Confounded, Lucy. I've had a talk with the doctor. There's a risk, a big risk. Lucy, don't go through with it. It isn't worth it. Oh, it is. To me. Listen, Lucy, I know how you feel, but, well, maybe it would make a difference. Maybe you'd change your mind. Nothing could make me change my mind. Nothing. The spring morning smiled in through the tall windows at the end of the hospital corridor as they weared me into the operating room. Just such a morning it seemed to me as that spring day when the little girl had played in the hayloft of her father's barn. Then came the pain. The bottomless vortex of pain. Just as when the little girl had gone hurtling down. Down. Down. And crushed her chin and her hopes against the brutal biting rim of the wagon wheel. You lie with your arms strapped to your chin and time grinds to a throbbing halt. And only one thing matters anymore. To be able to tear that arm away, to flex it, to fling it back and forth, until the agonizing ache is gone. Until a delicious nothingness has settled mercifully over the bound, bandaged heap which is Lucy Palmer, which is you. I thought this moment would never come. The moment of my unveiling. You mustn't give way now, Miss Palmer. I'm sorry. Just nerves. Lucy, maybe Ralph and I shouldn't be here. Especially me. It was my idea, but Lucy, if you'd rather... Oh, no. No, I'm glad. And I've never thanked the firm of Colton and Colton for converting my hospital room into a flower garden. You've no idea what they are. Steady now, Miss Palmer, while I snip off these bandages. Doctor. Nurse, bring Miss Palmer a hand mirror. Well, Chet, tell me. She's... she's beautiful. The plastic surgery was a great success. People no longer looked away from me in embarrassment. Now, unbelievably, they turned to admire Lucy Palmer. Yes, I was beautiful. And the world was beautiful. Incredibly beautiful. Hey, Lucy, let me help you with your coat. I... what? My dear, you mustn't feel so self-conscious about being seen admiring yourself in a mirror. If I had a lovely face like yours, I'd always have a mirror within view. Oh, you always know the right thing to say. No, not always. Well, goodbye, Ralph. Bye. I had dinner with Chet that evening. Such a nice dinner. Such a nice evening. Soon we were together almost every evening. It was a part of living that I had never even glimpsed. And how I gloried in it. Yet all the while, I kept telling myself that it couldn't last. I have an extra special reason for wanting to sit out this dance, Lucy. For once you sound serious. For once I am. Lucy, I... I suppose everyone has warned you about my romantic past. Everyone? Well, as you accused, I've a right to know just what they've said. That you never could resist a pretty face, except that it's always a different one. Well, they're wrong. I was just searching until I found the right one. Lucy, I have. Shall we go in now? You've got to believe me, Lucy. I never meant anything more in my life. Maybe you haven't, but you will. I'm going in. Lucy, I can't say the news is wholly unexpected. And I guess you both know that you're my two favorite people. All the happiness in the world to you. Thanks, Ralph. You've been so wonderful to me from the very first, Ralph. I'm going to prize having you for a brother-in-law. Say, that reminds me, I'd better call it Miss Dean and tell her that Cupid Colkin has done it again. By the way, will the wedding be soon? No, Lucy is holding out for a long engagement a whole month. There was only one thing to mother happiness of that month of true so-buying and honeymoon planning. Something was wrong with Ralph. Ralph, who had always been the picture of health and vitality. Chet insisted on his having a physical check-up, and though the doctor said it didn't seem to be anything serious, I began to worry. A confused kind of worry. I'd wake up at night with the feeling that something terrible was going to happen. The night before the wedding, I awoke with a feeling that it had happened. Whatever it was, I had been ready. Then suddenly I knew what it was. I jumped out of bed, snapped on the lights and ran to the mirror. You said yourself, Doctor, that the danger was past. And now look at me. This was to have been my wedding day. Your wedding day? I wonder... Wonder what? Miss Palmer, you're suffering from paralysis of the facial nerve, true. The drooping lower lid, mouth, there's no mistaking the symptoms. But the cause need not have been physical. Don't talk in riddles. The brain, Miss Palmer. The brain is the greatest riddle of all. Unconsciously, without in the least suspecting it, you might have wheeled this very calamity upon yourself in order to find escape of some sort. Go on, Doctor. Now ask yourself, is this connected somehow with what was to have happened today? Is this connected somehow with the wedding and Chester Colton? I don't know. I don't know. I didn't seem to have a worry in the world, except Ralph. What's that? Chet's brother Ralph. He hasn't been feeling too well lately. Ralph Colton? Wait a minute. What are you doing, Doctor? Ralph Colton came to see me before your operation. He entrusted me with this letter. I was to give it to you only if the operation didn't succeed. Well, here, read it. Maybe it can throw light on our riddle. My dear, it may be some slight consolation to you in this bitter hour of disappointment to know that no surgery of man, no miracle of God, could make you more beautiful than you've always been to me. I love you, Lucy. And while I grieve over your heart-breaking, it gives me courage now to ask something which I would not otherwise have dared to dream. Darling, will you be my wife? Well, Gaila, now you know about the letter I once received. Yes, Aunt Lucy. And now I think I understand what you meant. You meant that Bob couldn't really have been in love with me, not if I lost him to Sharon just because she was beautiful. I suppose that someday I may even be thankful about my letter. I'm sure you will be. Oh, you and Uncle Ralph are the happiest couple I know. And to think that if it hadn't been for that facial paralysis, but there's no sign of it now, it never has been as far back as I can remember. That's right, Gaila. Every trace had disappeared by the day of our wedding. But then, as Ralph has always said, all brides are beautiful. This is Dennis Day again. You know, there are a lot of unusual things about family theater, but here's something that really makes it different as far as I'm concerned. Family theater has no sponsor, and yet it has a million sponsors. Yes, I'd say that every father and mother in the country has a stake in this program, because every parent has the responsibility of making his home a place of happiness, a place of goodness, a place where God is known and family prayer is a daily practice. You are the listeners and the sponsors of family theater. And family theater is successful if it helps you realize that the family that prays together stays together. Thank you for being with us, and God bless you. Our grateful thanks to Anne Blythe, Phillip Terry and Dennis Day for their appearances, and to Marie Zim 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 George Neese, John Daener, Jean Young, and Florence Ravenel. 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 Dan Daly, head of Hopper and Fred Allen will star on Family Theater. Your announcer, Merrill Ross. This is the Mutual Broadcasting System.