 Vicks' Matinee Theater Vicks' Matinee Theater, presented by the makers of Vicks' Vapor Rub, brings you the unforgettable love story, Penny Serenade, starring Victor Jory in the role of Roger Carey, and featuring Betty Winkler as Julie. Now here's a good thing to remember when you catch a cold. The best known home remedy for relieving miseries of colds is Vicks' Vapor Rub. Ladies and gentlemen, day from the stage of the Matinee Theater, Vicks brings you Martha Tiva's heartwarming love story, the story of two people and their marriage, and what it did to them and for them, Penny Serenade. As our curtain rises, we find Julie Carey sitting on the floor in the living room of a small apartment in Westchester, New York. She's shorting out phonograph records as her husband, Roger Carey, calls the record of a happy marriage. This looks like it. Julie and Roger are estranged now. And the records of a happy marriage. Look at this one. Ain't we got fun? I haven't heard that from you. I think I'll tell you, Roger's always been crazy about it. Every morning, every day, Ain't we got fun? Not much money, all but honey. Ain't we got fun? I was playing that record the day I met Roger in the music section of Prince Department Store. It was my first job, and Roger walked in about noon, a complete stranger. But my first customer, and my first club. Hello, gorgeous. What's new in Fox Broad? This is recording. We got fun. It costs 35 cents. Roger to Mr. Roger, Carey, 420 Madison, New York City. Roger? Of course. I never pay for anything until I have to. It spoils my creditors. All right. I'll wrap it up for you. Wrap yourself up with it, will you, gorgeous? There's a place in my heart that's been waiting for a redhead like you. Are you interested? Not particularly. How about a date? The employees are not permitted to date a customer. Any chance of you changing your mind? Not a chance in the world. I see. I'm going to have to work on you. Gee, redhead, you dance like something out of my dreams. You aren't so bad yourself. It's a mighty smooth record. Die by three o'clock in the morning? You certainly did. You bought every record in stock. I don't know where you've been all my life. I like your family. I like your friends. I even like this party. Do you believe in love at first sight, Julie? I never have before. Hey, you two, break it up. You want a kisser? Take it to the park. What did you say your name was? Julie. Hello, Julie. Hello, Roger. I love you, Julie. It happened somewhere in between. Maybe we got fun in a little white life. I love you too. It happened just a minute ago. Darling. You're not going out on another date, are you? No, I quit acting the big brother I'll say I am. I've got a date with the smoothest little redhead in town. Julie again, huh? That's right. How do you like this tie? Isn't it a little loud? Sure, I bought it to go with my bright blue eyes. Come along and meet Julie. You'll like it. Careful, Roger. Don't get into deep. Remember, there have been a lot of Julie's. You've got it all wrong, guy. There's only been one Julie. Julie, I wouldn't be blue. If I had a girl like you. That's a beautiful song, isn't it? It was nice of you to bring me that record, Roger. Julie, there's something I want to tell you. Yes, Roger. The newspaper wants to send me to Japan for a week, I guess. To Japan? Yeah, they just told me today. They're a little concerned about some things that are going on over there. They think it might turn out to be important. It's a wonderful break. I'll have a byline and everything, Julie. Roger, carry a black type right up on the front page. Well, I'll miss you, Roger. Miss me? Miss me? You think I'm going to leave a dizzy little redhead like you on your own for three years? I'm going to marry you. And as soon as I get out there and get settled, I'm sending for you. Oh, Julie. Darling, you mustn't kiss me out in a street like this. Someone will see. Let them see. Let everyone in the world see. Julie, there's never been a girl like you anywhere in the world. You're pretty and you're cute and you're smart and you're fun. And you're the first girl I've ever known that I could stand after a few weeks. Honey, you're for me. You know, for the first time in my life, I'm actually ambitious. I want to work hard. I want to see you in a mink coat with a diamond as big as a grapefruit on your hand. I got a bad kid. You got me to the point where I think cottages and diapers on the clothes line are the most wonderful things in the world. You aren't going to say no. Are you, Julie? You know I'm not. No one ever says no to you, Roger. That's because I got big blue eyes. Yes, darling. It's because you have big blue eyes. Roger, I wish I hadn't come to the train with you. I wish I'd said goodbye at home. It might have been easy. Hey, Mrs. Kerry, you aren't going to cry, are you? Oh, Roger, don't go. A byline isn't worth it. Stay here. Not that now. We want to be rich and successful, don't we? We want a house on the right side of town in a mink coat. We want to be together. Roger, look at the organ grinder. Well, wait until I get a quarter for the monkey. Say, isn't he something? Here you are. He's tipping his hair. I love that song. You know the words, Roger? Little man and wife. That's if they're contented with the little things in life. And we're after the big things, Julie. The important things. We're Mr. and Mrs. Roger Kerry on our way to the train. Mr. and Mrs. Roger Kerry on our way someplace. Goodbye, darling. See you in Japan. So long, Redhead. Don't forget, you belong to me. I could never forget that. Records of a happy marriage. Funny house songs will bring things back. And how you can go back across the years while you're listening. This is the song they were playing at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. The night his brother Philip and I had dinner there. Philip had left to work at a hospital in San Francisco before Roger and I were married. And when Roger finally saved the money for me to come to Japan, he asked Philip to meet me in San Francisco and put me on the boat. We had three wonderful days before I sailed. Philip was the exact opposite of Roger. He was considerate and dependable and thoughtful. Philip was wonderful. And Roger... Well, I suddenly felt very strange about Roger, even when I was in his arms again. Julie... Oh, Julie is so beautiful. Gee, kid, I've been counting the hours. I bought three new suits in your honor. How do you like this one? Uh-huh. Very handsome. Is it paid for? Are you kidding? Of course not. Oh, I have three instead of one. The tailor came to collect for one, so I ordered two more. I've got an inheritance coming to me in a few weeks that'll more than pay for them anyhow. Did Phil tell you about Uncle Pete's will? Yes. Roger, have you saved any money at all? Well, no, but a will. Well, you better start immediately, darling, because in about five months we're going to have a baby. Uh-huh. A baby! That's right. Oh, darling, that's wonderful. Well, sit down. Sit down, won't you? Don't stand there. It's like a cushion so I can get you a glass of milk. Are you all right? I feel wonderful, Roger, and please don't fuss over me. Roger, you are happy about it. Happy about it? I'm going right out and set the world blazing from corner to corner of Father. Me, can you tie that? Wait till I tell him down at the office. It's going to be a boy, you know, and I'm going to call him Roger. Oh, boy, it's always best to have a boy first. Ah, Julie, I never knew I could love anyone or anything as much as I love you. Don't stop loving me. I'll give you anything in the world you want. I'll do anything you want me to do. I'll be whatever you want me to be. You do love me, don't you, kid? Of course I do, Julie. That was Roger. Charming, lovable, impossible to resist, but never serious enough for the serious things of life. He gave no thought to the problems of having a baby. I had been in Japan only a few weeks when he came home one afternoon bursting with enthusiasm. Julie! Julie! Hey, you're looking at a man of means. Roger, you got the inheritance. That's right. The papers came this morning. Honey, we're rich. We got $5,000. You know what we're going to do with it? We're going to blow ourselves to a trip around the world. Oh, but Roger, I... I don't think I should travel it. It's so hot right now. It's hot this afternoon, all right? They call this earthquake weather. Earthquake weather. Afterward, when people would say, so you're in the great earthquake in Japan, tell us about it. All I could remember was that I was starting down the stairs and I felt my feet sliding from under me. The stairs came up and hit me in the face. And I remember the whole city being on fire and Roger carrying me through the streets to the boat. And I remember it crying. Not from pain, but from a terrible sense of loss. Everything after that was blurred. The next I really knew, I was in Philip's hospital in San Francisco, and Roger was bending over me. There was a question that ached inside me. Roger, the baby... I'm sorry, keep it. Oh, I wanted that baby terribly. I know. I should never have brought you to Japan. No, no, don't say that, darling. You didn't know. Julie, about that trip around the world, that wasn't such a hot idea after all. I've been inquiring around, and I found a newspaper in Westchester, and I bought it, Julie. It's slightly on the rocks right now, but I think I can make a go of it. I've got to make a go of it. Philip. I have a great idea for you two, I think. Why don't you adopt a baby? Adopt a baby? Is that the way it is, Philip? Roger. That's the way it is. Well, then Roger is. As soon as we get to Westchester, and get a little money ahead, we must go shopping for a baby. Mrs. Kerry, I love you very much, and I love you very, very much. In just a moment, act two of Penny Serenade, starring Victor Jory and featuring Betty Winkler. These days, most mothers have things pretty well figured out. For instance, when their children catch cold, they waste no time wondering what to do about it. They relieve distress of children's colds the modern way. At bedtime, they rubbed time-tested, home-proved Vicks vapor rub on throat, chest, and back. From their own personal experience, they know that vapor rub starts right to work, bringing grand relief the very moment you rub it on. It helps relieve congestion and irritation in the upper breathing passages, the coughing spasms, sore throat, and that muscular soreness or tightness. You see, vapor rub is so effective because it penetrates, penetrates into the cold, congested upper bronchial tubes, with its special, soothing medicinal vapors, and at the same time, it stimulates. Stimulates chest and back surfaces like a comforting, warming porous. And thank goodness this penetrating, stimulating, stimulating action of vapor rub keeps on working for hours to bring gratifying relief. So when colds strike in your family, remember, only vapor rub gives you this special, penetrating, stimulating action. No wonder it's the best-known home remedy for relieving miseries of children's colds. Vicks vapor rub. The curtain rises on the second act at Vicks' Matinee Theater, starring Victor Jauré in Penny's Serenade. The scene, the small apartment over her husband's newspaper plant where Julie Carrey sits playing old records and thinking over the past. The day Roger and I went shopping for the baby was one of the most exciting days in my whole life. We'd waited three years. For three years, we'd been running the newspaper in Westchester. And though we didn't have a great deal of money, we were beginning to get our feet on the ground. We'd written to an agency and we had an appointment with a Miss Oliver in New York City. I'd sent her Roger's picture and asked her to pick a three-year-old boy that looked exactly like him. Well, how about a lovely six-weeks-old baby girl? I'm afraid not. We don't want a girl, Miss Oliver. We want a boy. Don't we, Julie? Yes, we do. A three-year-old boy. You see, that would be the age our baby would be. I understand. Well, we don't have any little boys of that age available. As a matter of fact, there's another couple that's entitled to see this baby before you. That's such an exceptional child. I... Would you like to look at her just for a moment? She's like no other child I've ever seen. That's why I want you to see her before the other couple. Well, it wouldn't hurt to look at her, Julie. No, it wouldn't hurt to look at her, I guess. I'll get her. She fills my arms just right. And she's beautiful, Roger. You still want a boy? Well, maybe a little later we could still have a boy. Well, I guess she's ours. If it's all right with you, Mrs. Oliver. I'd like to talk to you about her history. It's really an excellent... Mrs. Oliver, when someone offers you a gift like this, you don't ask for its history. Just say, thank you, and God bless you. There's nothing we want to know about her, is there? Mother? Oh, darling. You know, my mother always used to say that when your husband starts calling your mother, all the romance has gone out of your marriage. But it seems to me as though the romance has just come in. Called the baby, Treenin. No reason. We just like the name. Looking back now, it seems to me her life was measured off by Christmases rather than birthdays. Probably that was because Christmases meant so much to Treenin. From her very first... From her very first... When she started to school, it took on even greater meaning. A feast of carols program. I might be choosed. You might be choosed for what, baby? The first three grades ought to be the angels. If I can learn this song by tomorrow, I might get to be one. Let's see it. Little town of Bethlehem. Well, let's... You and I learn this song. Treenin got to the fourth grade. She was in the chorus on the stage. That year, business was bad and there wasn't much money. And Philip phoned from San Francisco. Well, Philip, your old son of a kind. We're fine. Yeah, all three of us, you bet. Treenin? Sure, she's right here. Come here, sis. Your Uncle Philip wants to wish you luck. Hello, Uncle Philip. Yes, thank you. I'll try to be good in the show. I'll tell them. Merry Christmas to you. Thank you. Goodbye. He said for me to sing loud enough for him to hear all the way to San Francisco. He said, give my love to your mother and father. Come on, honey, put your coat on now. It's time to start. I'll go out and warm up the car. Well, I do hope and pray it starts, Daddy. I don't see how people ever get along without Christmas. I don't know how we ever got along without you. Treenin's ninth Christmas. She looked like a Christmas rose with a hair and pink tail. And in a new white dress that we'd somehow managed to buy. That Christmas, Philip came. And Treenin, we said that nothing would ever take her away from us. We forgot about death. She caught a cold. There was a sudden, brief, hopeless illness. And she was gone. Roger and I sat alone in a room. Two strangers looking across that empty little bed. Here's the letter she gave me. She was going to mail with the Lone Ranger. I gave her the pre-sense Monday. You might as well throw it away now. And in Heaven's name put that Christmas costume away where I can't see it, will you? Julie, I can't stand sitting around this house. I'm going out. All right, Roger, put your coat on. It's cold out. How can you sit there like that, saying nothing? How can you go on as though she was still here? It's an overcoat matter. I keep asking myself, why? Why? How can these things happen? Last week she was running in, now the house alive. And I've got to get out of here. And Julie, I'm not coming back. I don't ever want to see this place again. I don't ever want to see you again. I don't ever want to see anything that reminds me of... Roger, you don't mean that. You don't care anything for me. I knew that years ago. You were always in love with Philip. You think I didn't know that? Every time a letter came from him, you mentioned him to you. You sort of lit up inside. You were in love with him when you came to Japan. But I thought, if I loved you enough, maybe in time you would forget him. Well, that was my mistake. You can go to him now. There isn't any more family, and there isn't any more treatment. I don't ever want to see you again. Is that clear? Yes, Roger. That's very clear. Maybe you're right. Maybe we never have had anything together. Goodbye, Julie. The records of a happy marriage. Roger. Roger, why didn't I answer you? Why didn't I answer you when you needed an answer so desperately? Now it's too late. Now there's nothing to do but pile the records away. Under finished business. Finished. One marriage. Anybody home? Roger. What are you doing? Listen to that old piece. I was just going through the records. I thought you'd be gone to Phillip by now. I just wanted to have a last look around the old place. Roger, I'm not in love with Phillip. You thought you were in love with him? No, I don't think I even really thought I was. You know, darling, I think there must be a Phillip in every woman's life. Someone who thinks about when the going's a little hard and she's feeling sorry for herself. Oh, sit down, Roger, and take off those shoes. You went out without your rubbers again. What's in that package? It's a record. I thought it belonged in the collection. Let me see it. Oh, I don't want to walk without you, baby. Oh, Roger. Julie, I don't know why I spoke to you like that, except that I was nearly crazy with grief. And I felt that you loved Phillip and delusion both was more than I could take. And Trina, Julie, Trina had never been sick in her life. You know, the day before she got sick she wanted a quarter and I didn't give it to her. A couple of weeks ago, she wanted me to take her to the movies. I told her I was too busy. I know, darling, it's been the same with me. When she was trying on a carolers costume and I was basting my hem and she wouldn't stand still, I scolded her and I said, I'm never going to try anything on you again. And I never did. You know, Roger, we've had a good marriage. We haven't had an easy time of it, but no one has an easy time. I know what you mean. The same thing I've been thinking. We haven't had much. Now and then we've even been hungry. We've had money and spent it We've had Trina and lost her. That kind of thing either tears you completely apart or it draws you very close together. Julie, when I left the other night I thought as though I'd cut myself in half. As long as I have you there isn't anything I can't take. Honey, how many times you can fall in love during a marriage in so many different ways? I love you, Roger, with my whole heart. Maybe as time goes by I'll love you more if that's possible. But I'll never love you less. My darling. Hello? Yes, this is Roger Kerry. Miss Oliver. Just a minute. Julius Miss Oliver. She says that we said once we wanted a little boy and strictly off the record this little boy three years old that just fits our description. Oh, Roger. What's that, Miss Oliver? Oh, just a moment. She says there's another couple who have a right to see him first. But she'll overlook that if we want to... We're on our way. Aren't you going to put on a coat? I forgot, of course I am. Button it up, good mother. Right, you are, Pa. Wait a minute. Let's put this record of I don't want to walk without your baby away. We've got to take care of these records, you know? They're the records of a very happy marriage. In just a moment, a word or two from Victor Jory. You know, many, many folks have learned from personal experience that when you have a cold, it's no time to take needless chances with untried remedies. So if you're dragging around with a cold a day, don't experiment. Remember, the best known home remedy you can use for relieving miseries of colds is Vicks Vapo Rub. Just rub Vicks Vapo Rub on your throat, chest and back. And right away, it starts to work bringing you grand relief from distress of colds. Vapo Rub's comforting action invites restful sleep and keeps on working for hours to bring you such welcome comfort. And often by morning, most of the misery of the cold is gone. So if you have a cold, benefit by the personal experience of so many millions of thankful families. Rub on Vapo Rub tonight. Follow this modern way so widely used these days to relieve miseries of colds. Vicks Vapo Rub. This is Victor Jory and I want to thank Betty Winkler personally for a grand performance. It is our desire to bring you the best in books, plays, motion pictures, and we at all times would like to comply with your requests. What is your choice? What would you like to hear? Write me in care of Vicks Matinee Theatre, Columbia Broadcasting, 22 New York. In answer to your many requests, next week's play will be one of the great romantic stories of all time. The story of the gay masquerader who rescued the persecutor from the very shadow of the guillotine during the days of the French Revolution, the Scarlet Pimpernel. Our play was written by Gene Holloway from Martha Cheever's novel of the same name and was directed by Richard Sanville. Music for this series is under the direction of Mark Warner. Be sure to listen next week. When Vicks Matinee Theatre presents the Scarlet Pimpernel starring Victor Jory, this is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.