 Family Theater presents Audrey Totter, Don Taylor, and Charles Colburn. From Hollywood, Family Theater presents Hop, Skip, and Jump, starring Audrey Totter and Don Taylor. Charles Colburn will be your host. Family Theater's only purpose is to bring to everyone's attention a practice that must become an important part of our lives if we're 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, Hop, Skip, and Jump, starring Audrey Totter as Valerie and Don Taylor as Tommy. Along the waterfront, I had a tip-off from a stoolie I'd find Black Bart Bagshaw somewhere around the docks. And if Black Bart saw me before I saw him, curtains and a bouquet of lilies on my chest, maybe I got careless. I'll ever know just how it happened, but suddenly, minutes and 27 seconds later, I came to my senses. What a headache I had. What a headache you are. Hi, Aunt Hattie. Oh, why did you turn off the radio, Valerie? Because I can't stand those idiotic, privatized stories. They always come out right in the last 30 seconds. Mm-hmm. Any mail today? Oh, just a letter from, uh, let me see now. Here it is. Mary Millers of Minneapolis. Oh, some advertising, I suppose. Mary Millers of Minneapolis? Well, they're the people who make smoothies. Smoothies? The breakfast food? The ones holding that jingle contest? This couldn't be, Auntie. It couldn't be. Give me that letter. You're shaking so you'll never be able to order. Here, give it back to me. Miss Valerie Judson, Copper Canyon, Colorado. Dear Miss Judson, this is to inform you that your entry in our recent Smoothies Jingle Contest has been awarded first prize. Sit down, dear, and I'll get the smelling sauce. I'm all right, Auntie. You're as pale as a ghost. I am, after all, a girl doesn't win an all-expense trip to Chicago, and you're included. Me? Who finished the letter? If you will contact our Denver office, our Mr. H.P. Blankenship will make arrangements for you and whomever you may choose to accompany you on the streamliner, the Rocky Mountain Rocket. Oh. While in Chicago, you will find that everything for your comfort and pleasure has been arranged by our advertising agency, Dylan, Dolan, Dolan, Donald, and Shapiro. Smoothies are, as we proudly advertise, the tasty flake that takes the cake. I accept my sincerest congratulations on your skill and good fortune. Yours truly, T. Abercrombie Wilberforce President. Oh, let's start packing, honey. School's out in a week, and I haven't been to Chicago since the World's Fair. Well, that's all right, Stuart. I'll wait until one of the smaller tables is empty. Young man, you can sit down right here. I'm expecting my niece, but there's still plenty of room. Well, it's very kind of you, but I don't like to intrude. Sit down. When a man's hungry, he's hungry. I'm Miss Harriet Carter from Copper Canyon, Colorado. Oh, how do you do, Miss Carter? I'm Tommy Holiday from Chicago. Oh, I'm pleased to meet you, Miss Holiday. Oh, here's my card. Tommy Holiday, Holiday Investigators. Oh, why, you're a... Hi, Auntie. I see you saved a place for me. Valerie, this gentleman is Mr. Holiday, Mr. Holiday, my niece, Miss Valerie Judson. Nice to meet you, Mr. Holiday. Nice to meet you, Miss Judson. Well, we eat. Maybe the Mary Millers in Minneapolis have got spies watching me, and if I don't order smoothies, they'll disinherit me. What? Oh, my niece won first prize in the Smoothies Jingle Contest, Mr. Holiday. The prize was this trip to Chicago for the two of us. Oh, well, congratulations, Miss Judson. How long do you expect to be there? Two weeks. Oh, well, perhaps I can show you some of the spots. You too, of course, Miss Carter. Do you know where the Newberry Library is? The Newberry Library? Never heard of it. Here are our orders, waiter. But I do know the head waiter at the Che Paris. What I started to tell you, Valerie, was that Mr. Holiday is a private eye. Hardly that, Miss Carter. I listen to them all on the radio, but my niece doesn't care for them. In fact, she can't abide them. Oh? Well, perhaps you'd like the genuine article better, Miss Judson. I doubt it. Why would the radio private detectives be such wise guys who do such dumb things, unless they're prototypes in real life are the same? Valerie. Miss Judson may have something there. I'm stymied on the case right now. As a matter of fact, I went all the way to Denver on a hot tip and turned out to be a water hole. Oh, tell us about it, Mr. Holiday. Not now, Auntie. Here's the waiter. I'm hungry. Well, why don't you come back with us to our drawing room after breakfast, Mr. Holiday? I'm dying to hear about it. I'd be happy to. Perhaps Miss Judson can point out some angles I've overlooked. I might at that. I have one thing that you don't have, Mr. Holiday. A woman's intuition. When I was in college, my psychology professor once defined woman's intuition as a hop, skip, and a jump. Very clever prof, too. Yes, it wasn't he. Oh, dear, I wasn't concentrating when I wrote my order, and I must have put down smoothies. Have you ever received any threatening letters, Mr. Holiday? Oh, dozens of them. Dozens of them, Miss Carter, but only from Bill Collectors. Oh, you. How about unfolding allura details of this case that's got you buffaloed? All right. Well, for the past three months, there's been a regular epidemic of drug store holdups in Chicago. First, they were small, independently owned stores out in the residential districts and in the suburbs. But two weeks ago, on successive nights, two of the stores of the big Bixby chain were knocked off. Is it worse to hold up a Bixby chain store than an independent? Only for me. Mr. Benjamin J. Bixby, president and sole owner of the chain, pays me an annual retainer. He takes care of hot check passes, shoplifters, cash register tapping clerks, you know, and similar small fry. Now he demands that I find this holdup man or else. So I've had to take my operators off of every other job. And if I don't nail him soon, I'll go bust. Why do you say holdup man? How do you know the same man did both jobs? It's almost certain the same man did all the jobs. Why? Well, three things. A, he's very short, much shorter than the average. B, for a weapon, he uses an old-fashioned four-barrel derringer. You know, the kind that the Mississippi River gamblers carried about a hundred years ago. And C, his getaway car is always driven by a brunette who waits outside while he pulls the heist. We think the fellow's name is Willie Meekins. He fits the description and they sprung him about four months ago after he did seven of a five to ten rapid state bill for armed robbery. Oh, now you talk. Just like one of those private eyes on the radio. Auntie, can't you see we're serious? Does this Willie Meekins have a wife or a girlfriend who's a brunette? Yes, he did have a wife. Before he went to the pen, come to think of it, she was a brunette. Well, anyway, that's where I sit. If I find Willie Meekins, it'll probably turn out that he's been in kankake for the last three months, and I'll have to start all over again. On the radio, my little pants for you. Auntie, please. Your woman's intuition working, Miss Judson? It hasn't anything to work on yet. Well, I'll give it a chance. So nice to have met you, Miss Carter. And you, Miss Judson. May I, uh, call you tomorrow? Oh, please do, Mr. Holiday. We'll be at the metropole. I'll see you soon. Bye. Goodbye. Well, do you like this place, Miss Carter, Miss Judson? Look, young man, don't you think we've observed the amenities long enough? I'm Hatt. She's Valerie. And as far as I'm concerned, you're Tommy. All right, suits me. Hattie. I beg your pardon, Mr. Holiday. There's a phone called for you. Will you take it outside or here at the table? I'll take it here, Captain Le Carr. Oh, right away, sir. I will bring the instrument. How can you take a phone call here, Tommy? Oh, this is a plush joint, Hattie. Crummy food, sloppy service, but they have telephone plugs in the walls. Here you are, sir. Oh, thank you, Captain Le Carr. Holiday speaking. This is Mikosky, Chief. I got bad news. Another Bixby store got knocked off 20 minutes ago. Where? Chicago Avenue, near Wells. Same guy? Yeah, one thing was different, though. This time there wasn't a dame in Le Carr. The guy drove it off himself. Hattie, where are you now? In a store. Well, stay there. I'll meet you in, uh, 10 minutes. Okay, Chief. I'm awfully sorry, but I'm afraid I'm gonna have to leave you. I'll call a cab for you, though. Another Bixby store held up? Well, how did you know? Hop, skip in a jump? Also, you said where and same guy. The usual routine, I suppose. No, no, no. Quite. This one was different. My assistant had just called me, said the prunette wasn't in the car. A stick-up man drove it away himself. Doesn't that give you an idea? For what? For apprehending, I believe that's the term you private eyes all use. For nabbing this thorn that's been sticking in your flesh. What do you mean by that? I teach high school, Tommy. I'm past the words of one syllable class. Just remember that a certain spot, which is noted for its spectacular temperatures, has no fury like a woman scorned. When did I ever scorn you? Oh, Tommy, you're impossible. But I'll long now play like you're Sherlock Holmes. Don't tell me what you meant when you told Tommy that Hades had no fury like a woman scorned. I'll throw an old-fashioned knif-tion. Not yet, Auntie. Auntie, you've been reading the Chicago papers. Who would you say has the juiciest gossip column? Well, I'd say it was Alex Somerville in the choreographic. His column called Through the Keyhole and What Alex Saw There. Oh, find me the number of the choreographic. Will you please, Auntie? Sit down, Mr. Somerville. This is my aunt, Miss Carter. How do you do? How do you do? Miss Judson, when you phoned me, you said you saw the getaway car drive away from the Bixby hold of last night with a blonde doing the driving. Oh, I'm afraid you misunderstood me, Mr. Somerville. I couldn't be certain. But I did see a car last night with a man and a woman in the front seat. The woman was a blonde and she was driving. You're sure that the woman was a blonde? Oh, yes, I'm positive about that. You see, I don't like to print things that can't be proved. Do you mind if I mention your name and that you're staying here at the Metropole? Not in the lease. Oh, and mention that we're here because my niece won first prize in the Smoothies Jingle Contest. Yes, I'll do that. Well, I'm very much obliged to you, Miss Judson. You're quite welcome, Mr. Somerville. Nice to have met you and you, Miss Carter. On my way out, I'll tell the newsstand to send you up a complimentary copy of tomorrow's paper. Goodbye. Oh, I ought to wash out your mouth with laundry soap and water, telling a big one like that. From what you said, he inferred. Can I help what he inferred? Operator. This is Miss Judson. Would it be too much trouble to try to trace any call that comes to me from a woman? That is, after the choreography goes on sale tomorrow afternoon? We'll be glad to try, Miss Judson. I'll tell the manager so he can inform the other girls on the switchboard. That's very kind of you. Thank you so much. You're welcome, Miss Judson. Oh, I don't know what I'm going to do with you, Valerie. You're up to something. You bet I am. And if it works, I won't make Mr. Tommy Holiday eat crow. I'll make him eat a whole turkey, buzzard. Alec has peeped through his keyhole and scored another scoop. The Derringer Desperado was not alone when he made his getaway from the Bixby holdup night before last, but instead of the customary brunette, his chauffeur was a beautiful blonde. This is the eyewitness account given to Alec exclusively by Miss Valerie Judson of Copper Canyon, Colorado. Miss Judson, who is in the suite 519 at the Metropole, is the first prize winner in a recent contest conducted by one of the better-known breakfast booths. Why that two-time loop? Operator, operator, this is Crystal Lake 5329. Get me the Metropole Hotel in Chicago. Telling me he was alone? Metropole Hotel. Miss Valerie Judson, please. Suite 519. Hello? Miss Judson? Miss Valerie Judson? Yes? Hey, what about that piece in the paper in Alec's column? What about it? Who is this? Oh, somebody you don't know. Hey, look, is it true what Alec said you said? Well, does Alec often print things that aren't so? No, I don't suppose he does. Who are you and why should you be interested in a blonde being in that car? I'm his wife. I'm the brunette. Now, do you see? Oh, he's a crook and an ex-con and he's no good, but I'm crazy about him. Oh, I have to hang up now. Goodbye. Oh, it's you, Willie. You was expecting somebody else? Who was your calling? The drugstore. I don't feel so good. I wanted some aspirin. What drugstore you call? The one on the corner. You know they don't make deliveries. You're lying. I'm not lying. Give me that paper. What you been reading? That thing. You've been reading Alec's column. Everything that Dame told him about a blonde being with me was a lie. Why should she lie? She don't know you and she don't know me. She comes from Colorado and she told me... She told you, did she? Where was she at? In the drugstore in your fondle for aspirin? Ah, Jenny, you ain't got bad brains. That call can be traced. Why would she want to trace a call? I don't know, but the whole deal smells. Well, I suppose I got to do it. Do what, Willie? First I got to tie you up and stuff a dish rag in your face so you can't do no more squawking. Then I got to get down to the Metropole Hotel and learn Miss Valerie Judson. She'd done them better if she'd kept her lip button. Could you trace that call operator? We were lucky, Miss Judson. It was a tall call. Crystal Lake, 5-3-2-9. That's wonderful. Now will you get me Dearborn 6-6-5-7? Certainly, Miss Judson. Isn't that Tommy's number, Valerie? It is, and he'd better have an abestous telephone. Holiday investigators, holiday speaking. The internationally famous sleuth? The human bloodhound? The nemesis of the nefarious? Valerie, I've been so busy, I haven't even had a chance to call you. Hot on the center of the Bixby Bandit? I'm not even lukewarm. How to be if I gave you a telephone number? Stop kidding, Valerie. I just stay put in my private eyeing. I prefer to remain aloof in my ivory tower and permit the pregnant clues to come to me. Look, Valerie, if you've really got that crook's telephone number... I've got it. I don't see how you could have it. I've got it. Well, look, it won't take me five minutes to find out where he lives. Oh, come on, Valerie. Come on. Come on, honey, please. All right. It's Crystal Lake, 5-3-2-9. Now you've got the ball, and it's up to you to take it from here. He didn't need an asbestos telephone for that conversation. I know, Auntie. The poor dear son had so beat I didn't have the heart to rub it in. This is the door, Mikosky. When I count three, we'll both hit it. Okay, Chief. One, two, three. Looks like there's nobody home, Chief. There's somebody in a closet. Cut the gag, Mikosky. It's Jenny Meaghan's all right, Chief. Willie's wife. Where's your husband, Jenny? Where's Willie? Oh, in that chiseling in the Metropolitan Hotel to find that Judson gal. Where's your telephone? Over there in the corner. Operator, this is Crystal Lake 5-3-2-9. Get me the Metropolitan Hotel in Chicago. And hurry, this is an emergency. Good afternoon, Metropolitan Hotel. Miss Valerie Judson, Suite 519, please. I'm sorry, but Miss Judson and Miss Carter have gone out. Oh, did they say when they'd be back? No, they didn't, sir. Now, listen, Operator, this is a matter of life and death. When they do come back, tell Miss Judson that Tommy said to lock themselves in their suite and let no one in. Do you understand? No one. You wanted Tommy, but I still say he wouldn't have sent word to lock the doors and let nobody in if you weren't in danger. I'm not laughing, Auntie. I'm too scared. I think maybe I grabbed a bull by the tail and now I can't turn it loose. Time and again on the radio, whenever Mrs. South tried to solve a caper without her husband knowing what she was doing, she always got herself behind an eight-ball. Tommy isn't my husband. He'd like to be. Auntie, what makes you think so? I've watched him. Every time he looks at you, he gets all bug-eyed, like a dying calf in a thunderstorm. He's sweet, isn't he? Maybe it's not too late to change him into something besides a private eye. Oh, good grief, what's that? Oh, somebody's knocking on the door. Don't answer, and maybe they'll go away. Oh, we're acting like a couple of kids that's scared of the dark. Who is it, please? Western Union. Message for Miss Valerie Judson. Oh, just slide it under the door, if you will. Sorry, you got a sign for it. Don't open that door, Valerie. Maybe something important. Where's the telegram from? Copper Canyon, Colorado. See, Auntie, it's bound to be important. Well, don't open that door until I get behind it with this cut glass water pitcher just in case. Okay. Just a moment, and I'll open the door. You ready, Auntie? Go ahead. I'm all set. You're not from Western Union? That's right, I ain't. I had to say something to get in here. Now I'm in. We're gonna talk, see? You don't need a gun to talk to me. Put it down. Uh-uh. You told some lies about me, sister. That was too bad for you. Now I'm gonna... Dead center. He's out like a light. He was going to shoot me. Auntie, it's silly, but I think I'm going to fail. Oh. Oh, head ahead, and Subetzy, what next? Hold your horses out there. Open the door, Harry. Keep your shirt on. Where is she? Did he...? Valerie. Oh, honey. Darling, if he's hurt you, I'll brain him. Looks like somebody beat you to it, Chief. It's Willie Mankin's all right. And he's out like a light. Valerie, honey. Come on. Valerie. What did he do to her, Harry? Nothing. I clobbered him with a water pitcher before he had a chance. And now, if you've got most of the smush out of your system, I'll tell you what's the matter with Valerie. She's fainted. I'll go get some water. Please don't, Auntie. I like the present status quo very much. Very much. You little faker. You're awake all the time. Well, I suppose you're too weak to take the walk I was about to suggest. Where were you going to ask me to go, Tommy? To the marriage license bureau. I'm not too weak for that, sweetheart. I measured it from the hotel this morning. And it's not much more than a hop, skip, and a jump from here. And now, your host, Charles Coburn. You know, I have a friend who's quite a fisherman and hunter. A person the newspapers would call a sportsman, I guess. The other day I said to him, Bill, what are your thoughts on prayer? You remind me sometimes of an uneasy cat up and stirring at all hours, prowling into nature's secrets. What's it all about? Listen, he said to me, for all you may think, I'm not one of those parrot brains who says you don't have to go to church because you find God best in nature. I love nature, but I don't worship it. For all nature worships someone else, God. To me, being in a cathedral now with the organ playing, well, that's beautiful too. But the whole world's a cathedral. And I like to think that in nature's cathedral, there's only one voice. Because nature's God is one God. This one voice now, of course, there are different variations of it. Somewhat like a church organist playing variations on the same theme. But in nature, there are almost infinite variations. Well, nature's an organist too. With winds and pipes and manuals and, yes, a musical notation written across the wide horizons in clouds and skies and tall pine trees and mountain peaks and such. It's all one voice, all brought forth by the same organist. Man has a voice too, and it's better than any of them. But of all God's creatures, he alone sometimes doesn't lift it up, doesn't loan it back to the God who gave it to him. And a man who doesn't use his voice to pray, well, he's like a cracked fiddle, no better than a piece of firewood. So when you count me in, the whole of God's world reminds me why I should pray, and I do. I used to think that this friend of mine wasted a lot of time with his hunting and fishing and tramping, but I've changed my mind. He's learned some things that I've never read in books or heard in sermons. Keep these seven words ringing in your thoughtful ears. The family that prays together stays together. More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. From Hollywood, Family Theatre has brought you Hop, Skip, and Jump, starring Audrey Totter and Don Taylor. Charles Coburn was your host. The script was written by Jack Mitchell with music composed and conducted by Harry Zimmerman and was directed and transcribed for Family Theatre by Joseph F. Mansfield. This is Tony Lofrano expressing the wish of Family Theatre that the blessing of God may be upon you and your home and inviting you to be with us next week when Family Theatre will present... Revolution and Rodneyville, starring Lionel Barrymore and Wendell Corey. Join us, won't you? This is the Mutual Broadcasting System.