 Family Theater presents Jerry Lewis and Maureen O'Sullivan. From Hollywood, the Mutual Network in Cooperation with Family Theater presents Every Good Boy Does Fine, starring Maureen O'Sullivan. And now, here is your host, Jerry Lewis. Thank you, Tony LaFranco. Family Theater's only purpose is to bring 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 Theater urges you to pray. Pray together as a family. And now, to our transcribed drama, Every Good Boy Does Fine, starring Maureen O'Sullivan as Mrs. Gregg. If anyone had told me a week ago that it was possible to do the right thing with the best motives in the world and still regret it, I would have thought they were crazy. But after what happened to Gerald Wright, I'm not sure anymore. I'm not sure at all. I've known Gerald ever since he was born, 16 years ago. His mother and I are in the same bridge club. And before Jim died, he and Ed Wright used to go bowling together once a week. And as for Gerald, well, he and Nancy grew up together. They're in the same class at Central High. Although in the last year, I've noticed that she's had a tendency to give Gerald the old shoe treatment. But that's not unnatural. I expect children to stop making new friends, even though it may leave some of their old ones feeling a bit neglected. Darling, aren't you early? Yeah, they let us out for the last period. Am I happy? Why? Geometry. I mean, why did they let you out? Who knows, but never look a gift towards in the mouth, I always say. Oh, are you the one that's always saying that? Every chance I get. Is there any grape juice left? Up on top. Maybe your teacher was sick, huh? Oh, it wasn't just our class, whole school got out. And Mr. Hill never gets sick. Oh, Nancy, close the door. Everything's going to defrost. I'm putting the picture right back. I pity any germ he catches. Who? Dear Mr. Hill. No, no. And you wouldn't believe it. Sandra thinks he's handsome. And so very likely does his wife. Nancy, don't go. I won't. Now what's the rush? You told me the baseball game wasn't until 3.30. Oh, that's been canceled too. Post-boned. I'm going over to Sandra's. But who is Eddie Stafford? President of the sophomore class. Oh. And Sandra says he's the coolest thing to dance with. Well, I'm all for dancers, keeping cool. Oh, mother, that's not what I mean. Oh, darling, would you get that? Sure. Are you home? Unless it's a salesman. Okay. Who is it, Nancy? Well, what's the matter? It's Gerald. Well, what's that to whisper about? I saw him through the window. You mean you didn't let him in? Mother, if he knows I'm going over to Sandra's, well, we'll just tag along and he's getting to be such an ick. Oh, Nancy, this is rude. You can't leave the boy standing out there. Well, I didn't ask him to come over. But that's not the point. And when you don't want to be home to people, I say you're not here. Well, what if he decides to come in and wait for you? I can go out the back way while you let him in the front. That way, you won't even be fibbing when you tell him I'm not here. You're developing a very fine morals sense. Please, mother, if you don't let him in now, he'll see me when I come around the front. All right, thanks. You're a sweetie. In the house by 530. I promise, bye. Bye, hello, Gerald. Hi, Mrs. Reagan. Come on in. Well, thank you. I was out in the kitchen. How's your mother? Just fine, thanks. Is Nancy home from school yet? Why, no, Gerald. She isn't. I heard they let the kids out early today. I just wondered. Like a fool. Right on the hall table, and Gerald saw them as clearly as he saw me were Nancy's school books. Bad enough being caught in a deliberate lie, but when it's a thoughtless, senseless one, you just want to drop through the floor. I just wondered. Weren't you at school yourself today? Not this afternoon. I had to go to the dentist. One of my braces came loose while I was eating lunch. Is it all fixed now? I guess so. Come on in the kitchen and have a piece of cake. Well, thanks. I'm not very hungry, Mrs. Gregg. Oh, come on in anyhow and keep me company. Feel like playing the piano? No, I don't, if you don't mind. Well, I'm afraid it's pretty badly out of tune anyway. Oh, no. It's a wonderful instrument. I was telling the folks last night I just wish ours had that kind of action. Well, don't wait for an invitation when you want to come over and play it. I've told you that. I won't. I guess you'd like to hear it again once in a while. Oh, I'm sorry. There's nothing to be sorry about, Gerald. I would like to hear it played, and I know Mr. Gregg would want it to be played too. Played a lot. Boy, he sure could play. Yes, he could. Remember how he used to sit down and say, and now the only piano playing cop in town will give you the concerto and F? Yes. And boy, could he cut that one? Among others. No one ever said he was a goof because he didn't play all that junk on the radio. Well, Jim liked popular music. Music? Okay. But not all that junk with everyone screaming and you can't hear the words. Well, that's what they seem to like today. Yeah. And they don't like anyone who doesn't like it, either. It's all they care about. It's all they pay any attention to. That or you've got to be a baseball captain or something. Or they don't even know you're there. Oh, Gerald, everyone goes through this. I was a skinniest girl in class and I had braces on my teeth until I was 18. They don't even know you're there. Excuse me. Oh, sure. Hello? Lieutenant Gordon? Oh, Jack. I didn't even recognize your voice. How are you? And how's Marie? Oh, wonderful. Oh, wonderful. We're getting along. Your prayer? Over at the high school? Well, of course you've got to stop by. Yes. Fine. I'll be expecting you, Jack. Bye. Well, how do you like that? Who was it? An old friend of Jim's. Jack Gordon. He's on the force. The police? Yes. I don't think I've seen him in almost two years. He's over at the high school about something. The high school? Oh, he's a lieutenant now, getting up in the world. Is he coming over to see you? Yes, he's on his way. Well, I guess I better be going. Oh, you don't have to run off, Gerald? Well, I've got some homework and I told Mother I'd stop at the store and pick up something for her. You tell Nancy I'll see her at school tomorrow. All right, Gerald. Thanks for stopping by. I can't quite say why. Maybe it was just that Gerald seemed so anxious all at once to get away, but I got a sudden feeling that something was wrong. And 10 minutes later when Jack Gordon arrived, I knew it. He did everything he could to sound hearty and cheerful, but I could tell it wasn't a social call. Well, Helen, you look great and the house looks great. It's wonderful to know you're getting along so well. All right, all right, Jack. What is it? I was married to a sergeant of detectives for 14 years. You didn't come here to chat. What is it? Well, as a matter of fact, there is something, Helen. Did you know that they let the whole high school out one period ahead of time today? Yes. Nancy came home and told me. Did she tell you why they did it? She said she didn't know. Somebody, they don't know who yet, phoned the principal's office at 1.30 and said there was a bomb hidden in the building and it was set to go off in two hours. Oh, no. Now, this sort of thing is usually a joke. Well, it's been happening a little too much lately. We've got reports like it coming in from all over the country. Then there wasn't any bomb today. We've got a squad of men finishing up over there. They haven't found anything yet and I don't think they will. But we want to nail the kid who did this and nail them good because if we don't and it gets out, every wise guy in every school in the city will be unhappy until he's pulled the same trick. You think it was a student? It always is. What reason could they have? Some of them are so silly they'd make you laugh. A kid hasn't done his homework and he doesn't want to face the teacher nor he's planning to take in a matinee and doesn't want to miss the first part of the picture. But it's so thoughtless. Some just do it to show off, to attract attention to themselves. To attract attention to themselves? Some of them don't even have a reason. They just do it for a gag. Now, those are the ones we want to scare off by making an example of this kid. Well, why have you come to me? I was wondering when you were going to ask me that. I told you we figure it was one of the students. Yes. Well, since there's no public phone at school, we decided it must have been a student who wasn't there today. That seems logical. So we checked the absentee lists. 12 students absent this afternoon. Three of them girls. Are you ruling out the girls? Not entirely, but it's more a boy's kind of trick and the voice that phoned in was masculine. I still don't know why you're telling me, Jack. A friend of your daughter's, Nancy's, was one of the boys who was absent. Gerald Wright. Do you suspect Gerald? Not any more than anyone else, but we've got a reason for not wanting to go directly to the parents of any of these kids. So we got up a list of their closest friends and decided to work through their parents wherever possible. You say you've got a reason for not going to the parents of the suspect? We've got a fistful. First, as I told you, we want to keep this quiet. Well, you can see why. Oh, sure. Another thing, you go up and tell someone his boy is suspected of a thing like this and you either wind up with an irate citizen on your hands who wants to sue the department. Yeah, I know. Or else they'll decide the kid's guilty and try to beat a confession out of him. How do you think that would happen? You'd be surprised. Well, what kind of help do you think that I can give you? Maybe nothing, but you can't tell. If the kid who did this had simply a reason to go to work or he wanted to see a movie, it may never happen again and that'll be the end of it. Well, I think Gerald was out because he had to go to the dentist this afternoon. Yeah, we checked on that. He had a note from his mother and the principal called the dentist just making it look routine and he had the appointment already. Jack, there's one thing about this that I don't understand. Now, if the phone call came from outside the school then whoever made it was already absent. He could go to a movie or whatever he wanted to go, couldn't he? You ought to take the sergeant's exam. What do you mean? Three of the boys were homesick in bed all day. No phone anywhere near. Two others were out of town with their folks. Two more cut school all day to go to a ballgame. Like you say, they were already out. They'd have been crazy to call attention to themselves by pulling a stunt like this. And that leaves two. We've got it narrowed down to the boys who might be trying to attract attention. That's the main reason we want to keep this quiet. Well, how do you mean? Well, people who are trying to attract attention usually have a certain person in mind and that person is the only one who has to know. In this kid's case, it might be a girlfriend. If it doesn't get out that this boy's phone call is what started all the trouble, we're hoping that whoever he's trying to impress may not believe his story. So that he'll have to do it again? To prove he's not a liar. When Nancy came home from Sanders at 5.30, I asked her if she'd seen Gerald after he left here. She said she hadn't, so I tried to put the whole thing out of my mind for a while. It was Thursday, my shopping night, and after dinner we drove over to the supermarket. What was trying to keep from being killed in the rush and still take advantage of the bargains, I practically had forgotten all about it. When someone pushed a shopping cart up next to mine and tapped me on the shoulder, it was Mildred Wright, Gerald's mother. Oh, danger. Well, hello. Hello, Mrs. Gregg. Oh, Gerald. Don't take the pop roast. My last one was like leather. That's why I took the meat tenderizer along with it. Is Nancy with you, Mrs. Gregg? Well, yes, Gerald. I think she's over at the ice cream counter. Oh, I see her, thanks. And stop interrupting your elders. Oh, that boy, he's as fidgety as a Russian spy. Oh, Helen, seriously, if you don't want him to play your piano, please say so. But I do want him to. That's all he talked about when he came home this afternoon. Oh, really? Well, I think he's crazy about his braces. He's just going crazy with his dentist bills. Oh, they can run up. And the last straw, the absolutely last of all the straws blew in this afternoon. What was that? Dr. Wyver, that's Gerald's dentist. Call me to say that his brace could not have come loose just for eating. Says it looks as if he deliberately pulled it off. Oh, now I ask you. Well, that doesn't make sense. Assume. Now, just assuming that it's true. I suppose he did it in his sleep. Because, huh, everyone knows he hates to go to the dentist. But my attitude is it's Wiley's way of getting another $10 on the bill. And I don't think he's above it. It doesn't seem likely that Gerald would do it purposefully. Oh, just to get out of school to go to the dentist? Oh, even he doesn't hate school that much. Oh, when Ed is boiling, he is just boiling. Gerald? Gerald me, dentist the whole world. Well, I just had all I could stand it. So I said, stop, I told him. Go down to your dark room, develop some pictures and get out of my life. And Gerald, you go upstairs and play with your tape recorder and leave me alone. Oh, you've got a hard life, Mildred. You can smile, but I tell you, I'm getting to be a maniac and to make everything just perfect. Gerald has been complaining tonight that his brace is starting to feel loose all over again. Oh, I suppose it'll be another trip to the dentist tomorrow afternoon. Tomorrow afternoon? Well, what else can he do? Well, I guess he can't do anything else. That night it kept growing in me. The realization that Gerald was the boy who had made the phone call to the school and that he was going to do it again tomorrow so that Nancy would pay attention to him. And yet, the next morning at breakfast sitting across the table from my 16-year-old daughter with the sunlight streaming in, it seemed so fantastic. Because Nancy was the same girl I'd seen every other morning, making the same innocent, aimless chatter and at the last moment having to dash from the house so she wouldn't be late for her first class. So I let her go. But when she came home from lunch, I knew I had to stop kidding myself. Oh, Mom. Yes, dear? Gerald was asking me this morning after second period if he could come over this afternoon and practice on the piano. Of course, darling. I told him he was welcome anytime. Yes, I said I thought it would be all right. Are you going to let him walk you home from school for a change? No, no, not today. Darling, is there anything wrong? No, no. I just mean he'll probably get here ahead of me. Oh. Yes, he told me he's not going back to school this afternoon. He's got an appointment at the dentist. It was quarter of one when Nancy left the house and for the next 15 minutes I did some of the hardest thinking in my life. Here was a silly, sensitive, boy-wide known and loved ever since he was born. And now his friends, my own daughter especially, had stopped liking him, stopped noticing him. He learned something wrong and he was going to do it again to make them know that he was there. I thought about calling the school, calling his mother, jumping into the car and driving over to the dentist's office to stop him. And then I remembered something that Jim had told me a long time ago. When it's a police matter, he said, let the police handle it. That's what you pay taxes for. So I thought about that. And then I did what I think Jim would have wanted me to do. Oh, Jack. I can only stay a minute, Helen. Thanks for calling us. Has he called the school yet? No, he's still over at the dentist's office. We've got a tail on him and he's carrying something, too. Carrying something? Well, it looks something like a toolbox, only it's made of leather. Oh, that's his tape recorder. Now, what do you suppose he's carting that around for? I can't imagine, but, oh, of course. He's coming over here this afternoon to practice on Jim's piano. He probably wants to make a record of how he sounds. Well, don't count too much on his getting here. Why not? Because if he tries to sing again after he leaves the dentist's office, we're going to be at his elbow. Jack, if he does, will you call me? He certainly will. Thanks a lot, Helen. I sat there waiting, watching the clock and the phone for as long as I could, and then I had to do something, something that would stop me from thinking. I got up and went into the parlor where Jim's piano was and lifted up the cover of the keyboard. The keys were yellow and a little dusty. I got a damp rag and put a few drops of ammonia on it and cleaned the keys. When I was finished, I went out into the kitchen and got the ironing board and started the presser blouse when the doorbell rang. Who can that be? Hi, Mrs. Gregg. Oh, Gerald. I had to go to the dentist this afternoon again, so I thought I'd take you up on that offer to use the piano. Of course, of course. Come in. What's up, Mrs. Gregg? No, I'm just ironing in the kitchen. Well, you go ahead. I'll start practicing. I'm awfully glad to see you, Gerald. Do you want me to close the door so it won't disturb you? No, make all the noise you want. It'll keep me company. I went back into the kitchen and started to finish the blouse. I could hear the piano out in the parlor and I'd begun to feel pleased and sheepish and a little mystified all at the same time. Well, it couldn't have been five minutes later. The phone rang. Want me to get it, Mrs. Gregg? No, that's all right, Gerald. Hello? Oh, yes, yes, Jack. Oh, but it isn't possible. Are you sure it couldn't have been the other boy? I just don't see how. He's been practicing the piano ever since he got here. I saw Gerald's face when I mentioned the piano. He was standing in the parlor doorway watching me and if his expression hadn't convinced me, the leather box placed on the floor just in back of the piano would have. Hello, Jack. Jack, I think you're right. Yes. Yes, all right. Is anything wrong? They know about you, Gerald. What do you mean? They know it was you who just called the school. I didn't call the school? Why would I call the school? For the same reason that you did yesterday. I'm awfully sorry. But how could I have called the school? I was playing the piano all the time. You were playing the tape recorder and while it was going, you came into the hall and you used the phone. I was playing the piano. Gerald, what you've done is bad enough. It makes it worse to lie. They can't prove I wasn't playing the piano, can they? Oh, Gerald, I understand why you did it. They can't punish me for something if they can't prove I did it. It's against the law. Of course he was right. He was young and angry and hopeless standing there. It was all I could do to keep back the tears. For a moment, I almost decided to help him. I wanted to say, oh, Gerald, you close up your tape recorder and sit down and start playing the piano. And when the police come, I'll say they must have been mistaken because you've been sitting here playing for the last 15 minutes and I've been listening to you. For a moment, I almost said that to him because all he meant to do was show off for Nancy in a silly, theatrical way. And if I just said the word, I could have kept him from outsmarting himself. But I didn't. Because there was a way to prove what he'd done. He always get caught. And I wanted him to learn that early. Did he give you any trouble? No. He's sitting in the living room. Jack, what'll they do to him? Oh, it depends. At least the thing didn't get out. The principal says he's got a good disciplinary record too. Oh, I know he's never been in any trouble before. Has he admitted it yet? No. He says no one could prove he wasn't playing the piano when that phone call was made. Oh. He's just frightened and hurt and I think he's trying to salvage a little of his pride. Well, let's go in. Gerald, this is Lieutenant Jack Gordon. He's an old friend of mine. Hello. Hello, Gerald. I guess you know this trick you pulled yesterday has caused a lot of trouble. You can't prove I did anything. It'll make things a lot easier for you if you just admit it. You... You can't prove? Look, son, if you know you did it and we know it too, what's the need for proof? Oh. All right. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt anybody. Don't you feel a little better now? Yeah. Will I go to jail? Well, I'm afraid we'll have to stop down at the station for a while. Do my folks know yet? They're waiting for you down there. I guess my dad's boiling, huh? No. No, I wouldn't say that. In fact, he took the news pretty quietly. Well, he was steaming plenty last night about having to get my braces fixed. Yes, he says he thinks that may have something to do with this. Well, I... I guess you want to get going, huh? Well, you go out and wait in the car. I'll be right back with you. Okay. I'm sorry, Mrs. Gregg. I'll come by for my tape recorder whenever I can. I'll take care of it, Gerald. Bye. Well, I want to thank you again, Helen. Don't worry too much about the boy. I think we can iron this out. I'd appreciate it. You know, it's a good thing he owned up. He could have put us over a barrel No, he couldn't. Don't kid yourself. Just because that tape recorder's here doesn't prove he was using it. Would you like me to show you something else that does? What are you talking about? Come on. All right. The piano. What about it? The cover of the keyboard's still down. So what? He could have lifted it up, played a tune and put it back the way it is. And what would that leave on the keys? What are you getting at? It'd leave fingerprints, wouldn't it? But you could identify them, especially on a clean keyboard. And I washed this one less than an hour ago. How about you? What do you want to bet there aren't any prints on those keys? I wouldn't bet much. Oh, wait till I tell the boys this one. If you've got any sense, you won't tell a soul but Gerald. And don't bring me into it. Just tell them it's police routine. They catch criminals like this every day. Oh, now look, Helen. I want you to promise. Okay. But I was right the first time. About what? You ought to take the sergeants' exam. This is Jerry Lewis again. I don't suppose there is any one of us who can't look back to our childhood and remember at least one time when we did something wrong and got away with it. Maybe it wasn't a very serious thing sneaking into a movie or stealing an apple off a fruit stand. And yet after we'd done it, we were left with a funny sense of guilt, even though we hadn't been caught or even suspected of any wrongdoing. There wasn't going to be any punishment. No allowance cut off the next month, no big speech, and then go to bed without your dinner. Nothing. We got away with it. And yet that was the day when we learned once and for all that nobody gets away with anything. Not really. Because no matter how many people don't know when we've done something wrong, we always do. And our conscience won't let us forget it. It's an interesting thing about the voice of conscience, though. It's not trying to nag us to death. It just wants us to listen. And the more closely we listen, the sooner we realize that the power behind that voice is waiting for an answer. And of course, the simplest, most effective way of answering God when he speaks to us through our conscience is by prayer. Whether it is to beg his forgiveness or ask him for a favor or just to say thanks. Thanks for my wife and my kids and all the happiness you've given us. In fact, that's the kind of a thank you your whole family might want to say every day. You should try it. Because remember, 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 Every Good Boy Does Fine starring Maureen O'Sullivan. Jerry Lewis was your host. Others in our cast were Jill St. John, Sam Edwards, Vic Peron, and Gigi Pearson. 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 that the blessing of God may be upon you and your home and inviting you everywhere this next week when Family Theater will present The Last Battle, starring Edgar Buchanan. Mitzi Gaynor will be your hostess. Join us, won't you? Family Theater is 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.