 Now listen to Father Knows Best transcribe starring Robert Young as father Springfield in another half hour is it with the folks in the white frame house on Maple Street sit back and enjoy life with the Anderson's Kathy Bud Betty Margaret and Jim has the head of this typical American household again sets out to prove that father knows best Well, this is New Year's Eve in Springfield just as it is everywhere else But there's something special about this New Year's Eve at the white frame house on Maple Street for the first time in years Things have worked out so the gym and Margaret could go out to a New Year's party Instead of spending it at home with the children and right now party preparations are nearing completion Like this Margaret. I need some help with these cuff links. They put so much starch in the cuffs I can hardly bend them around my wrist They keep snapping back at me. Yes Kathy, but take some white shoe polish and clean them Clean them anyway Now then Jim give me your cuff links. You know, I can hardly believe we're actually going out this New Year's It is hard to believe how many years is it now that we've been trying to get to the Stevens New Year's Party You'd think they would have stopped inviting us by now Well tonight we'll make up for all the years. We've missed Of course it makes you feel a little older to realize that your children are finally old enough to go somewhere as our New Year's Eve But it's kind of a good feeling to gives you a sense of freedom That's Kathy. It would be fine, but you don't have any blue shoes. Where did you say she was going tonight? Oh just over to Patty Davis's house. Patty's grandmother is going to be there to stay with the girls Hey, where's the new black bow tie bought to where tonight? Put it right here on the bed mother I snagged these stockings. Do you have an extra pair of real sheer dark ones? Look in my top drawer I think there's one pair in there. Those are the ones I snagged Did you look at me? There's none there either. Well, maybe you can that won't work either The only solution I can see mother is for us to exchange stockings. I should wear the snagged ones Well after all mother it doesn't matter so much how you're Well, I mean when a person gets to be There's your father and Mr. Davis and Mr. Phillips and Mr. Liggett and Mr. Stevens and Mr. Betty, have you seen an elderly black bow tie anywhere? Father, I've got problems of my own. Oh, I'm sorry Betty I may be caught up in the Stanley steamer crowd, but I plan to wear these stockings tonight even though Oh wait, I think I might have another pair in my room. Mom. I can't imagine where that tie went to Where's that checkered flannel shirt of mine? But you can't wear that to a party. It hasn't got any holes in it I know that and it's clean but I want you to dress up. Why all there's gonna be there is just some fellas and some girls Nobody but people, huh? Well, if you want to call girls people Well, even though it is limited to people I want you to dress up wear your white shirt. It won't look very good with blue jeans Who said you were going to wear blue jeans wear your good blue suit? I thought that was to Sunday school Well, you can wear it tonight too after all this is New Year's Eve and it's your first New Year's Eve party Well, okay, but a blue suit doesn't look so hot with tennis shoes Shoes well gosh, we're gonna play games tonight, and I don't want to slip Look bad fellow needs to be sure footed. That's fine, but need suction grip souls on the turns Look bad tonight. You want me to lose the games of course not but wear your good shoes and stop badgering your mother Well, okay, if you want your boy to be a wall flower. Oh, wait a minute wall flower. Do you know where my new? Oh, I didn't think so Now what do you suppose happen to that tie Margaret, are you sure you didn't pick it up? I haven't even seen the tie Jim was right there on the bed What could have happened to it black hair ribbon? Does that answer your question? Does it look huh? Well, it looks fine kitten except that happens to be my neck tie Oh dear Jim will you go down and get the phone? My nail polish is still wet Worrying about if I'm gonna be ready on time He always thinks he has to wait for me, and I don't know where he ever got that idea because he never has to wait for me I never make him wait. I can't remember one single time that I ever made him wait Well, don't stand there talking go down and answer the phone. I'll let him wait The feminine female mind is a wondrous thing indeed. What does that mean daddy? I wish I knew kitten And please give me back my tie Oh Liberty gibbets Come on cat. He will go find you another ribbon. We'd better figure out what to do about your shoes, too Oh, I got them fixed. I'm a two-tone shoes out of them. Oh fine blue and red Red where did the red come from? Well, see when I was trying to scrape off the blue polish with a knife a knife I cut my finger and so I got off the McCuricome a say no more And the red and the blue looks so pretty. I just finished them up that way How about they look great now? Yeah, they do but we'll have to get a new bottle of McCuricome That stuff doesn't spread as far as shoe polish How about your brown oxford's are they good enough to wear mother that was mrs. Davis She said patty's in bed in bed. She ate up the mistletoe and got sick My so Kathy can't go over there tonight. Oh gee will occur. Oh, well, I know what that means Here Kathy you can have the tie. I won't be wearing it tonight. Well now wait a minute Jim all's not lost And here I thought that for once we had New Year's Eve all organized. Well, it'll still work out I'll call a sitter to stay with Kathy. Oh heck. I don't want to sit her. I want to go with you and daddy Look angel for the time. We're ready to leave. It'll be your bedtime. You said I could step until 9 30 tonight Well, you can I'll go down and call mrs. Trili. She's usually available I don't want mrs. Trili mrs. Trili always wants to read me a bedtime story to put me to sleep Well, you like bedtime stories. All right, don't you sure but she always falls asleep instead of me I see I have to keep waking her up so many times that I lose interest in the story Well, I think this is something we'd better look into We're not paying her to come over here and sleep. Don't pay her anything at all. Maybe she'll stay away Well, I doubt if she'll be able to make it tonight. We'll soon find out it comes your mother How'd you make out Margaret? No luck with mrs. Trili goodie. She's already taken for tonight. And so is mrs. Freeman good D But mrs. Brophy said she was pretty sure she could find somebody to send over who I don't know Well, whoever it is. I don't like her but you haven't even seen her yet, Kathy Well gosh, I don't like it without even seeing her think how much worse it will be when I do see her Yeah, I think I'll eat some mistletoe and go over and be sick in bed with Patty Mom, I forgot to tell you that I'm supposed to take a box lunch to this party a box lunch Well for goodness sakes, but why didn't you tell me before I forgot? Well, it's hardly time to fix one now. Oh, I won't need much just enough for me and whatever girl gets me Well Let me think why don't you just throw a couple of things together like save fry a couple of chickens some mashed potatoes Con on the cob string beans apple pie, but I'm not gonna fry any chickens for you tonight I can tell you that right now Why don't you go down in the kitchen and see what you can find for some sandwiches? There's some peanut butter and jelly Well, what's wrong with that? What do you think I am a vegetarian? I Want meat come on bud. I'll go down with you and see what we can find. I'm a little hungry myself Okay, wait for me noise when you go downstairs. I told you I should have worn my tennis shoes tonight. Oh Sure, they have super suction cup cushion soles. I'll bet that's your sitter Kathy go letter in I don't like her Well letter in anyway, you might be surprised and like her. No, I won't Well, don't keep her out there waiting Okay, tell her your mother will be down in a few minutes. Come on bud. Let's see what we can find in the kitchen Kathy open the front door Hello daddy says for you to come in. Well, thanks. Hi there. How are you? Huh? Well, I'm Freddy's dollars. I'll bet you're Kathy. Is that right? How did you know my aunt told me my aunt is Mrs. Brophy Brophy you hit does seem kind of funny, doesn't it? But see I'm making my own way in college and I pick up a buck wherever I can You're really going to stay here and play with me. That's the deal Look what I brought along for us to play with You any good at ping-pong gee golly boy? Come on. We'll set it up on your dining room table. Have you got a good big one? Yeah, it's right through this way Okay, gee you sure are pretty I I think we're gonna get along great. Here's the table now. What do we do? Well, you take one end of this net and go around the other side of the table. Yeah, that's the idea Who's that? That's just my old sister. Don't let her know we're in here Is that your sister out in the hall? Yeah, that's her come on. Let's play Wow She's no fun. She's no good at games Cathy, where are you? Oh here you are. Cathy. Did you work in my way through college? Mrs. Brophy sent you. Yeah, she's my aunt. Oh, my name's Freddy Zollars. What's yours? It's Betty Betty Gee, that's my favorite name Want to have a game of ping-pong now wait a minute You're going to be here all evening. Yeah, that's the deal go answer the phone Somebody else will get it now. Here's a good way to hold the paddle Betty some players hold it this way But I prefer to Betty Oh, there you are telephone. All right, brother. Dear Huh? I used to have met you Freddy. Yeah, nice to have met you. Come on Freddy. Let's play Hey, who's he? Who's Freddy that's Kathy sitter Sitter howlin cats dad get a load of that sitter who's on the phone Ralph Yes, did you say the sitters are he take a peek in the dining room? Hello. Oh Yes, Ralph. Well, no, I'm not ready yet, but I'm not going to make it see him dad Yeah, well Ralph. I have a simply utterly crushing headache and I just don't think I can go to the party tonight Wait a minute Betty. Oh, I'm awfully sorry Ralph, but I just wouldn't be any fun at all tonight Now listen here Betty. Well, I'm sorry to Ralph, but this came up awfully sudden. It certainly did Well, thank you Ralph. I will Goodbye Betty. I'm ashamed of you But why father you wouldn't want me to go out with a crushing headache. Would you no? No, of course not In fact now that I think of it. I'm glad you did that you are certainly now that you're going to be home We won't need the sitter Father knows best in just a moment Tomorrow over the entire coast-to-coast facilities of the NBC radio network You're invited to tune to the pageant of the roses as NBC takes you to Pasadena, California for the rose parade You'll want to hear every minute of it on this station of the NBC radio network Later in the day NBC will again switch to Pasadena for a play-by-play description of the world-famed Rose Bowl football game the Spartans of Michigan State College Co-champions of the Big Ten versus the Bruins of UCLA Pacific Coast champions Check your local newspaper for the times of the broadcasts on this same NBC station Well what started out to be the first well organized new year's eve in the history of the Anderson family has now become a mixed up When Kathy's plans fell through they had to get a sitter for her and when the sitter turned out to be a handsome young man Betty called off her date with Ralph and now Jim is upsetting Betty's little scheme by letting the sitter go home Like this you see something just came up. Mr. What did you say your name was Freddy Zoller sir? Yes? Well Freddy it looks now as though our oldest daughter won't be going out tonight She won't hey wait It seems that she has a crushing headache That's too bad She's got to go out daddy. Well, she's called off her date already. No glue pots and as long as She's going to be here Freddy. I guess we won't need to sit here after all However, we'll pay you anyway as long as you were good enough to come all the way over I think I've changed my mind. Oh My head seems to feel a little better now. I Might call Ralph and go after all Maybe good. Are you sure you're going to go? I think so At any rate, we'll need someone to stay with Kathy. I see Well Freddy, I guess you'd better stick around until the princess makes up her mind what she's going to do That is if you don't mind. Oh, I don't mind at all. Not at all sir. Come on Freddy. Let's get going here It's my turn to bat. It's your turn to serve can't okay my turn to serve the bath. Come on I'm coming bud bet. That's a fascinating game to play. Yeah Here do you want to try it? Oh, no, you've got a headache You'd better sit down. Would you like to have me get you a drink of water? Would you? I'll be right back Excuse me, mr. Anderson. Could I please get a glass of water? Oh sure help yourself There's some glasses not covered right next to the sink. Oh, thanks. I don't think you've met my son This is but Freddy's all right. Hi say you wouldn't have an aspirin tablet handy. Would you this Kathy giving you a headache already? No, it's for Betty. Well, I'll tell you Freddy I doubt if an aspirin would have much effect on the kind of headache Betty has just to give her the water Yes, sir. I will I'll take good care of her sir What's wrong with him? I don't know he snapped his nude He'll get it back as soon as Betty leaves Now then what was your problem? Oh, no problem. I just can't find hardly anything for my box lunch Well, let's see. What have you got in here so far? Apples that's good dill pickles. You need a whole jar of them Pickles are hard to carry loose Weeners these aren't cooked bud. They're not bad raw. I might be able to put them on the radiator for a while to sort of warm them up Wait a minute, why do you need two packages of weeners? Well, she might want some too. I See well, what else we got here doughnuts cookies pretzels box of crackers Bottle of ketchup. I just put in one. I thought we could share that Can of minced ham Can of hominy But you've got the cook hominy. Oh, is that what that is? I thought it said honey Oh Me I thought honey would go good with the pretzels Yes delicious Can of corned beef can of Vienna sausages can of salmon But this was supposed to be a box lunch not a canned lunch. I know but where can you get a box of salmon? What's this in here for a head of cabbage? I thought maybe I could trade that off for something if I get hungry Yeah, that you should worry about Yeah, I'm ready. Let's go just a minute Margaret. So what do you think I could take dad? Oh Side of beef would be nice Jim we'd better go I just call the Stevens and told them we're late, but we're on our way Margaret I don't think we should leave just yet a Situation has come up with a sitter who happens to know all about it Kathy just told me come on But Margaret I was just wondering if we ought to leave them unshaper own Doesn't seem quite proper. Here's a stranger. No, he's not he's Mrs. Brophy's nephew. He's a wonderful boy Dad, where could I get a side of beef this time of the night? I don't know Come on Jim. We're terribly late now. Look at the clock. Oh my gosh. How did it get that late? Well, we've all just been fooling around. We've got to go. Yeah, okay that Freddie is awfully good-looking. Oh stop being a father and let's go This is our New Year's night out remember. Yeah, okay. I know good and well Betty never intended to call Ralph back and go out with him She's waited long enough. So he's sure to have made other plans by now. Oh now Jim. Stop it I thought you were playing with Freddie. No, they're in the living room sitting on the Davenport by George. I knew it You knew what well, I mean Maybe I'd better go in there and just sort of well, you know Check oh for heaven's sake Jim. You remind me of my father. Oh Dear that's probably the Stevens wondering what happened to us, but tell them we're on our way. Come on, Jim Wait, it might be an important call. Oh Hello Well, hi Joe. It's just Joe. Come on. Wait. I forgot to get a handkerchief. I think Jim come back Hey, I'm glad you called Joe. What are you putting in your box lunch? What you've eaten already Now look what time it is. Well, how was it? Did the girls draw names and all that? Who got me? Claude Mezner Uneven number huh? You had a bad ass serve mommy some other time. What are you doing now? Going home. No, I haven't got my box lunch ready yet Jim hurry up. Well, okay, Joe. See you tomorrow. Bye Anybody wants some pretzels and pickles But come on play me a game. Were you huh in just a minute? I want to eat a couple of weenies first Mother aren't you and father ever going to your party? I'm trying my best to get him out of here He's upstairs getting a handkerchief right now. No, he isn't he's in the dining room playing ping-pong with Freddy Ping-pong I know what he's doing too. He's protecting his poor little innocent daughter. Oh fine Oh boy, I'd like to get in on that game myself Come on Kathy. Maybe we can get up some doubles. Oh Wait children don't start anything Dear mother why his father think he has to protect me because he's a father. That's why Here Betty put this on so you won't soil your good dress, but why don't you know what we have to do now I? Don't think I do Well, you will have to have a family of your own now help me with this stuff here I think we can put it over on the table there. Oh, I get you I think this is a wonderful plan mother It's one I've been using for years. Oh, we better hurry to it's just about time You're right. Maybe you better go break up the game and call them out here. Okay? Missed Kathy swing Kathy. That's it good girl. Now that makes it do wait a minute. That was our point She missed the table. No, she didn't did you Kathy? No, sir. I'll let them have it. We'll still beat him Oh listen to him wait a minute hold it Huh? I have a brief announcement mother wants you all to file into the kitchen. What for we've just got the game started Come on everyone. Yes, ma'am. Well, come on kids. Remember now. It's my serve right in here. That's it Wow What's all this? It's time for refreshments. Help yourselves pickles pretzels doughnuts Corned beef salmon. Hey, that's my box lunch and one can of harmony Yes, and look at the clock everyone, huh? Well, I'll be Let me be the first to kiss our wonderful hostess Hey, that's an idea. Oh boy. This is what I like corned beef By George Margaret, I believe this is the best time we've had since the first year. We missed the Stevens party The Andersons will be back in a moment New Year's Eve tomorrow another great year dawns But tonight's a nine for celebration of the wonderful days which have passed in 53 Right now is a time for a word of caution in your celebrating tonight Please follow this rule of good sense if you drink don't drive Driving and drinking don't mix so remember the number one rule of the professional truck driver Driving is a full-time job. The professional driver's good safety record is based upon the fact that when he drives He's in full command of his senses remember that alcohol and gasoline don't mix and that the life you save May be your own Well the Andersons all finally went to a new year's party But it turned out to be the one they always attend their own The younger celebrants are all fast asleep in their beds now Only Jim and Margaret are still up as they tidy up a few things downstairs like this You know Margaret when you come right down to it There's no better place to celebrate New Year's Eve than right in your own home with your own family Well, I must admit we had a wonderful time. Oh My goodness, what's the matter? We forgot to call the Stevens to tell him we weren't coming Well, I think they figured that out for themselves by now But we should call Jim I feel awful. Well, you're right, but it's pretty late now They'll still be going strong call them and explain What'll I say just say Well, you'll think of something. I know they're wondering why we didn't even call. Please do it Jim. Well, okay I'll just tell me got stuck here at home again and There was no way you do. Hello. Who is this? Oh, Harvey? Happy New Year to you too, Harvey This Jim Jim Anderson No, we're at home Yeah Huh? Well, we had to Harvey. I just called back to thank you again It was a wonderful party Yeah, so long Harvey To thank him Jim, what were you talking about honey and like that? He asked me why we left the party so early They never even missed us And next week when we'll be back with father knows best starring Robert young as Jim Anderson father knows best is an NBC radio Network production in cooperation with Cavalier Enterprises in our cast were Gene Vanderpiles Margaret Rhoda Williams Ted Donaldson Helen strome and Gil Stratton Jr Father knows best based on characters created by Ed James written by Paul West and Roswell Roger Directed by Arthur Jacobson and transcribed in Hollywood. This is Bill Fawcett speaking Here the all-star parade of bands on the NBC radio network