 presents Lewis Hayward and Jean Lockhart. From Hollywood, the mutual network in cooperation with Family Theatre presents the People's Choice, starring Lewis Hayward. Jean Lockhart will be your host. Family Theatre'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 Theatre urges you to pray. Pray together as a family. And now to our drama, the People's Choice, starring Lewis Hayward as Claude Archer. Are you relatives of the deceased? No, no, just very close friends. Mr. Mrs. Claude Archer. How do you do? I'm Mr. Charles. We're handling the arrangements. How do you do? Is Eileen Mrs. Robinson here? And not at the moment, but she should be back shortly. I told her she simply had to get off her feet for a while. People have been coming in steadily since 1030 this morning. I can imagine. Mr. Robinson must have had a lot of friends. Yes, he did. Ed was a wonderful man. If you'd care to go in and pay your respects. Oh, in a moment, thanks. We'll wait until Mrs. Robinson comes back. Certainly. Well, you'll excuse me. Some more people just come in. Sure, thanks. I think you will find chairs in the foyer. Thanks. I don't see our flowers, Claude. Oh, they're probably in the other room. Let's sit down here where we can watch the door. Oh, I still can't get used to what had happened so quickly. I never heard Ed complain of having any heart trouble. We'll never bother him very much, I guess. Didn't Eileen say he had rheumatic fever once when he was a kid? Yes. Claude, do you think the campaign had... I've been wondering about that myself, honey. No, I don't think so. It's been four months since the primary. What'll they do now? Pick someone else to run for mayor in this place? Yes, they'll have to. And there goes everything we were trying to do. Oh. Well, you know how the organization people fought Ed in the primary? Well, he beat them. He won the nomination. But it's a state law that when a candidate for office dies, his replacement on the ticket is selected by the party central committee. Well, I still don't see. Well, the central committee is run by Clarence Ward and all the other people who opposed Ed in the primary. They'll probably slate landers or some other candidate they can do business with. And there goes your reform movement. No, I hadn't thought of that. Oh, maybe it's just as well this way. Ed didn't have the temperament for politics any more than I have. You managed his campaign for him. He won the nomination, didn't he? A couple of lucky amateurs, that's all we were. In a really hot primary fight, they would have run us ragged. Claude, I've never heard you talk like this before. I'm tired, honey. I'll be 40 years old next January. I thought of that this afternoon. And I'm in the insurance business, not politics. Besides, there's nothing I can do about it any more. I think I'll step outside for a smoke. How about you? No, you go ahead. I feel like sitting. I'll only be a few minutes. Take your time. The arrow, do you good? Excuse me, please. Excuse me, please. Thank you. Is that you, Claude? All right. Yes, who were Clarence Ward? Just going in to pay my respect. Good evening, Ward. You all alone? Oh, no. Sam Jones and Randall drove over with me there parking the car. Look, I realize we've had our differences, Claude, but after all, we both knew Ed pretty well. Of course. This isn't any time to let that end of the picture. No, but Claude, I've been thinking. I guess you realize that Ed's death puts the job of slating the man to run in his place up to the committee. I realize it. Well, I'd like your advice on the matter. My advice? Why is that surprising? You helped Ed win the nomination last spring and you did it without our support? What do you want me to do? How about having lunch with me tomorrow? Maybe you can suggest someone. Why don't you go to the newspapers? They could give you some ideas. They already have. I'd like to tell you about it. How about Fritz's at one o'clock? All right, Clarence. I'll have lunch with you. Good. Oh, are you alone here tonight? No, no. Jane came with me. In fact, she's probably wondering what kept me out here so long. I'd better be getting back. Yes. Well, give her my best. I'll see you at Fritz's, Claude. Howdy there. Yes. Yes, I think you will. Haven't you been asleep at all? Yeah. Yeah. I dropped off once. Are you worried about that meeting you have with Clarence Ward tomorrow? No, not really worried. You know what he's going to ask. I wish I did. He's going to ask you to run for mayor in Ed's place. No, he's not. I don't think that's it. Oh, Claude. Act your aide. I'd just be a big headache to them. Besides, I don't want to be mayor. You wouldn't like it. The kids wouldn't like it, and... Well, there's more to it than a simple yes or no. Like what? Well, for one thing, I wouldn't run for mayor, except on the same terms that Ed laid down. I'd publicly renounce the support of Jones and Randall. Why wouldn't Ward accept those terms? You took them from Ed? He had to. Ed was the elected nominee. Yes. And if Clarence Ward's one-half the smart politician everyone says he is, then he must have realized why Ed was the elected nominee, because he promised the people to run men like Jones and Randall out of power. Oh, honey, don't oversimplify it. Are you trying to say it wasn't the people who gave Ed the nomination? Of course not. I know it was the people. Why, Ed brought out folks in that primary that hadn't been to the polls in years. Ed and you brought them out. Now, Ed's gone, so Clarence Ward has come to you. Well, he knows a good thing when he sees it. Well, we'll see tomorrow. Oh, no. You'll see. More coffee, Claude? Thanks. Two cups of my limit. Don't tell me you've got a bad heart. No, nothing like that. Thanks, I will. Well, we might as well get back to business again. Now, this is the picture. Correct me if I'm wrong. You will accept run for mayor as the organization candidate, but only if Randall and Jones are out. I'm afraid that's it, Clarence. You realize, of course, that as chairman of the Central Committee, I can't throw them out. They're duly elected Ward committeemen. They have every legal right in the world to sit on that committee. There's much doubt as to how they were elected Ward committeemen. Claude, I'll tell you how they were elected. People voted for them. But what kind of people? Floaters, derelicts. Men who'd sell their vote for a square meal or a $2 bill. Be that as it may, Jones and Randall are here. The party's stuck with them. You sound as if you don't approve of them very much yourself. Maybe I don't. Just maybe, mind you. But whether I do or don't, they're still with us. Well, they control jobs, don't they? If you took that away from them, they wouldn't have any organization left. If we took the jobs away from them, yes. But if we do take control of their share of the jobs, we're throwing away their support. The votes they can deliver in their own wards. I see. That's where they stay in. Because when elections come around, a vote's a vote. Whether it comes from the tenements or from the Gold Ghost. Well, I'm not trying to play the white knight. But I don't want their votes. The elected mayor, Jones and Randall, aren't getting any jobs from my office, and you can tell them that. I will if you want me to, but they won't like it. But don't you like it either? I'd be a liar if I said I did. But, well, we think you're a candidate that can win, and we want you to win, even on your turn. Well, I guess that settles it, Clarence. How do we go about making this public? The Central Committee is having a press conference this afternoon. We'll make the announcement then. One word of advice, Claude. Reporters are pretty good at pitching curves to candidates. Now, on the subject of Jones and Randall, just remember this. They are not your opponents in this election. You're running against Mayor Keane and the record and policies of the other party. Ed licked Jones and Randall in the primary fight, and that's the end of them. So, you concentrate your fire on the opposition. I guess you've got a point there, Clarence. Take my word for it. There's plenty of dirty linen on the other side of the fence to keep us busy for the next two months. So let's hang it out on their line. All I got to say is he's got a lot of crust. Well, I'll give you that, Randall. Clarence, who's he think he is, coming into this organization on a fluke and given orders? He thinks he's our candidate for Mayor Jonesy, and he's right. And let me remind you of something else. We went to him. Reformers. I love them. Everybody wants to be a reformer. They can't wait to throw you to the wolves during a campaign. But six months later, let a cop give them a ticket for speeding, or maybe they want a few free duckets to the convention, and who do they ask? I know, I know. You know, you know. That's all you've said. Just where do you stand in this fight, Clarence? I'll tell you exactly where I stand, gentlemen. I stand for a victory in November, and Claude arches the man who can give it to us if we handle him right. Well, what about us? I don't see anyone worrying about handling us very right. You're kicking about something that hasn't happened to you. Have you lost any jobs as Archer mentioned your names once in any public statements he's made? Not yet, no, but I say we ought to lay it on the line now. Give it to him straight. Tell him about his high and mighty pal, Ed Robinson. No, no, not yet, Jonesy. Not just yet. He isn't ready for it. What do you mean he isn't ready for it? Well, he hasn't really got the bug yet. He still wants to be a reformer. That's still the most important thing to him. What are you waiting to see happen? I'm waiting for the bug to bite him, hard. So hard that being a reformer isn't nearly as important to him as just being elected mayor. You know, I think this is going to be a pretty fair speech, honey. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Can't you do any better than... Mm-hmm. Claude. Yeah? Oh, never mind. Honey, what's eating you? You've been a million miles away all evening. It's... Well, I might as well tell you. It's the speech. Do you know for sure if it's going to be broadcast? Well, no, not yet. Claude said it depends on how much money they can raise for the rally. Why? They must have some reason for asking us to travel all the way up to the state capital. You're just a local candidate. Honey, I told you the reason. It's a big Labor Day shindig too to kick off the campaigns all over the state. The governor's going to speak, me, the sheriff here, Mo Bragg, and... There's a chance you'll be heard on the radio all over the state. Well, then I think you ought to say something about how you stand on Jones and Randall. If you want the truth, I think I should myself, honey. But, but Clarence says... I know. Concentrate on the opposition. Well, it makes sense, doesn't it? But Claude, how can you expect people to vote for you as a reform candidate if your own house isn't in order? My own house is in order. I've told Ward how I stand on Jones and Randall. Then tell the people. That's what you told Ed to do last spring. That's what you'd want him to do now, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah, I guess it is. All right, honey. Start a new paragraph. What time is it now, honey? It's just past noon. Well, we'll be in the capital by one. Plenty of time for lunch when we get there. This stateroom's really an oven. You know, we should have driven down with the kids. I can send for some more ice cream. No, no, no. It just makes me hotter. Claude. Huh? Has Mr. Ward seen the speech since you changed it? Well, I gave him a copy when we got on the train this morning. He's probably read it by now. You think he'll make any fuss? I think we'd have heard from him by now if he was going to. His room's just down at the end of the car. Is it definite that your speech will be on the radio? Well, it's supposed to be. Unless the governor talks too long. Claude. There's something... Come in, it's unlocked. We'd like to talk to you. Why, sure, Clarence. Oh, I... You know Sam Jones, Bill Randall? Sure. Come on in. Claude? Mrs. Archer, I believe you know Mr. Jones? Oh, yes. Pleasure. Mr. Randall. How do you do? Nice seeing you again. Well, you have a seat. Well, thanks. Now, Claude, about this speech. Yeah? Now, by and large, it's a very good speech, but, well, frankly, I think you've gone too far. Honey, if you don't want to stay in for this, you can... I'd like to, Claude, unless you mind. All right, suit yourself. Now, before you say anything, Claude, I ought to tell you I had a perfectly good reason for asking Jones and Randall into this. You bet your life he did. I thought I was doing the talking film. All right, so talk. Excuse me. To put it to you bluntly, Claude, I can't go along with this speech. It's a bad idea. I suppose you mean the part that refers to these two gentlemen. Exactly. There's nothing liableous in it. I don't accuse them of anything. I told you I didn't want their support. This speech simply puts me in a public record to that effect. Claude, I am trying to be reasonable about this. I think you're trying a little too hard, if you ask me, Clarence. If you want to turn this into a dogfight, Sam, that's all right, but don't ask me to hold your coat. We didn't come here to fight, but someone's got to straighten this out. There's no dealing with this guy. We can't settle anything by yelling. Now, Clarence, let's get something straight. I said I'd be your candidate, but I told you the conditions. I am perfectly aware of what you told me. Well, we're wasting our time if you come here to try and make me change my mind. You may be wrong. At least wait until you hear what I have to say. Do you know why we're able to broadcast your speech this afternoon? Well, I suppose because you raised enough money to pay for the airtime. That's right. Do you know who put it up out of their own pockets? You aren't trying to tell me that these two... I am. Clarence, I thought I made myself clear on this subject. They're not buying me for the price of a radio program. They're not trying to buy you. They're trying to strengthen the whole ticket. Whatever it costs them, I'll pay them back. We're wasting our time with this guy, Clarence. I could have told you that when you first walked in here. He's asking for it, Clarence. He's standing there just begging for it. Go on, tell him. What does he mean, tell him? Tell me what? I would have preferred to avoid this, Claude. Avoid what? What are you talking about? Ed Robinson. Claude. Let him finish. Let him finish. What about Ed Robinson? He decided to go along with us. You're crazy. He agreed to accept any support that Jones and Randall could give him. I don't believe it. He wouldn't have anything to do with this. Claude, he did, whether you believe it or not. Ed didn't want any part of you. He wouldn't have any part of you. Claude, this is what I was trying to tell you. What you... What you were trying to tell me? What is this, Jane? What are you talking about? I loaned it from Eileen when she phoned this morning, just before we left for the train. What did she tell you? That Ed did what Mr. Ward says. He took Jones and Randall back. It... It doesn't make any sense. He fought them. He wouldn't have any reason. He had a reason, all right, Archer. Don't you worry. He had a dandy. Eileen said it was a long time ago when Ed was first starting in business as a lawyer. He had some trouble about money. Escrow money that he was supposed to be holding for someone. And we found out about it. It took a little digging, but we found it. Get out of here. Take it easy, Claude. You save your yelling for someone else, Archer. We don't have to take it. We know where the body's buried. Get out of here before I break you in two. Claude, please. Go on, boys. Leave us alone. I'll handle this. All right. But you make him see it, Clarence. I'll make him see it. Go on, go on. I'll meet you at the stadium. You don't seem to get it, Archer. We're fighting for our lives. Go ahead, boys. Will you please? See you out of the rally, Clarence. Yes, yes. Sure, sure. Well, Claude? I... I can't seem to get my brain working. Ed... 20 years I've known him. It's crazy. He made a mistake. People do you know. I don't know. I just don't know. What'll happen if I go ahead and... and give the speech? As it is. Dumping Jones and Randolph? Yes. They'll break the story about Ed Robinson. The opposition, they'll use it against you. And you'll lose the election. Look, how do you think most people choose a candidate? They look at him. If his fat smoke cigars, he's probably a crook. But if he's broad-shouldered, clean-cut with a clear eye, and a ready smile, they trust him with their life-saving. It's not like that, Clarence. Not anymore. The people are waking up. Some people, yes, but how many? You hear it every day. Politics, they say. What's the use? One party's as bad as another. There's truth in it. I know there is. But how many of the people do anything about it? Look at your figures. If we get out 60% of the vote, we've worked a miracle. Where are the other 40? Well, maybe it's raining on Election Day, or the polling place isn't on the way to the grocery store. Or maybe they're just sitting around the house telling themselves that one party is just as bad as another. You've been in politics too long, Clarence. It's major cynical. Oh, no, no. No, no. It's made me realistic. And time doesn't have anything to do with it. Ed Robinson wasn't in politics more than six months, but he saw the way the wind blew. You had him over a barrel. He had to go along with you. No, he did not really. He could have gone to the people. He could have told them his side of the story and left it up to them. No, he didn't dare. No, he never had a chance. He didn't dare. When push came to shove, Ed realized he couldn't trust the people to think it out all by themselves. Maybe they just read the headlines, the pictures. Maybe they'd fail him. But with Jones and Randall, he could be sure. With those two, you get what you pay for. So consequently, he took them back. I see. Well, it turns out to be a pretty smelly business, eh, baby? It doesn't have to be, Claude. Just because the politicians have made it that way. Politicians? My eye, Jane. You blame people like Jones and Randall for this or me? We don't make the rules for this game, my dear. The people do. And no one but the people can change them. Do you really believe that, Clarence? I don't have to believe it, it's so. I don't think people want to change the rules. Not enough to do it. Not enough to walk to the polls without being coaxed or paid or carried on the back of some precinct captain? Well... What do you suggest? Yes. If you want to be mayor? Oh, don't worry. I want to be. I've got it bad. Claude. I want to be mayor. What's wrong with that? I think I'd be a good one. I won't say another word. Women should stay at home. Except on election day? All right, all right. Let's have a scrap. Let's have a lolo. Don't worry, Claude. There won't be any scrap. This is something you've got to decide for yourself. I... I think you'd win, Claude, if you took them back. I think you'll lose if you... if you read that speech the way it's written. Think it over, son. I'll see you at the stadium. It was hot on the train. You could boil a steak under this speaker's platform. I don't understand it. Every sentence the governor says, I keep thinking it's the end of the speech. I've been told that's the art of giving a political address. Make every word sound like it's your last. You know, in a few minutes you'll be up there, Claude. Talking to them. I know. Have you made up your mind? I've, um... I've been thinking what a lot of good I could do as mayor if I won. You haven't answered my question. Well, Claude, you all sit. Is the governor finished? Yes, he's running a... Clarence, I've never had to speak to so many people in my whole life. Well, don't give it a thought. They like you out there. They just like you fine. Yeah, they think I'm a winner, don't they? They don't have any reason not to. There it is, Claude. The governor's finished. You're all next. You better get up on that platform, son. Give me a kiss, honey. Wish me luck. You... You do what you think's best, Claude. I think you'd make a wonderful mayor. Goodbye, baby. Uh, give it to them, Claude. Let them have it. I don't know, George. I honestly don't know. He knows what'll happen if he crosses this, doesn't he? I told him, Randall. Yes, I told him. He could win, you know, Clarence. He could take us all in if he'd just get smart. Claude, the question. Maybe he's got it. Or maybe... maybe he's going to try it. What do you mean, try it? Try what? The people. Maybe he's going to try the people. What's this people talk? Where do they fit into the picture? Listen, maybe... maybe he can tell you. Thank you. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you. I've got a prepared speech here. And I've been told that if I read it to you, I'll be committing political suicide. Well, maybe that's right. But I'm going to read that speech. It'll name names. It'll step on a few toes. And it may lose me a lot of votes. But nothing I'll say in that speech. Nothing is half as important as a point I want to make right now. It hasn't anything to do with me or my candidacy. Not anymore. It's about you. The people in this stadium. The people at home listening to me on the radio. You're the people who go to the polls. You're the people who make the decisions. You don't know how strong you are. I know you don't. You can win. You can make this state, this city, this country, anything. Everything you want of it. I want you to know that. But there's one thing you've got to realize if you want us to be candidates you can have faith in. You've got to realize that faith is a two-way street. We've got to have faith in you. Faith in your judgment, too. Faith in whether you want to tell right from wrong. Give us that faith. Understand this. You're not just one vote. You're the people. You're the loudest voice in the land. Make us hear it. Make us listen to it. Come out and tell us what you want. Our host, Jean Lockhart. You know, there are talents for living, talents for learning, and talents for the arts. Yes, and there's a talent for praying, too. A talent for learning the language of God because that's what prayer is. Unlike other talents, however, this one can be acquired by anyone whose heart is sincere and it can be acquired very easily. It's merely in the way we speak to God. It's the thoughts of our hearts reaching out to our Heavenly Father for help and guidance. It's the wish to give thanks for the blessings we've received. And it's the words on our lips when we join with our loved ones in family prayer. It's a wonderful thing. Having friends we can talk to and confide in and on whom we can count in our difficulties. And the best friend of any family is God. His presence among us means peace and unity and happiness and even security because while other friends may sometimes be able to help us, God can always help us. I think God's becoming popular. Yeah, in a great many homes these days we realize that like the best of friends God wants to keep our families closely together and happy and they've learned that this program is constantly telling us. And it's so true that 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 The People's Choice starring Lewis Hayward. And as your host, others in our cast were Virginia Gregg, Pat McGeehan, Herb Vigran, Frank Gerstle and Bob Emlin. The script was written by John T. Kelly with music composed and conducted by Harry Zimmerman and was directed for Family Theatre by Joseph F. Mansfield. This series of Family Theatre 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 we bring you the common talent to appear on our Family Theatre stage. To them and to you, our humble thanks. This is Tony Lafranco expressing the wish of Family Theatre that the blessing of God may be upon you and your home and inviting you to join us next week when Family Theatre will present Stopwatch Vanellé starring MacDonald Carey and Ruth Hussie. Join us, won't you? This program is transcribed. This is the Mutual Broadcasting System.