 presents Bula Bondi and Jack Bailey. From Hollywood, the Mutual Network in Cooperation with Family Theater presents Slaughterhouse Roll, starring Bula Bondi. And now here is host Jack Bailey. Thank you, Tony LaFranco. 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 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, Slaughterhouse Roll, starring Bula Bondi as Ma. 14. Eddie ought to be along pretty soon. Or is it Eddie? Now let's see. Schwartz had the four to 12 run. The week before I went to the county. The change over on Sundays. Now maybe it's Schwartz. Oh, I hope not. He talks a leg off you. There ought to be a municipal ordinance that streetcar motorman can't talk to anybody between midnight and six in the morning. Well, here she comes. I think if it turns out to be Schwartz, I'll transfer it to Washington and ride the northbound tonight. I've just got to get some sleep. Another week on those beds at the county and I'd have been crippled for life. Is that you, Schwartz? No, it's it. Ma! Schwartz still on days? Yeah, sure. Let me help you up onto the platform. Did you miss me? Oh, sure, we all missed you. I'm coming out wearing your glasses. Oh, the rim got cracked when I took that fall. Here, let me take that suitcase off. Oh, thanks. How is the arm, huh? Oh, a little stiff. I'll sit up here until that guy with the lunchbox gets off. I think he's going to transfer it to Washington. Well, you watch the mirror and tell me if he gets off the bed. You bet. Well, how's it feel to be a celebrity? You mean that full story in the newspaper? Yeah, sure. A lot of nonsense, especially about the money. I haven't saved more than $5 or $600. I'll show you my bank book. It's a pile more than I got. Well, you know how newspapers exaggerate, Eddie. Even so, I didn't think you'd come back to riding the cars at night, especially after where they spoiled you at that hospital. Spoiled me. Have you ever been to the county? No. You got a chance to do any business while you were there? No, little. I could have sold twice as many blades as I had. Trouble was, I was overstocked on shoe polish. You couldn't move it, huh? Not in that place. Everybody's walking around in slippers. Incidentally, you're about due for some blades, aren't you? Look, get me tomorrow night. I'm strapped right now. Well, I trust you. Wait. Single edge, isn't it? Yeah, that's right. I'll have to pay you tomorrow. Oh, forget it. Oh, say, you don't have a pair of orange shoes, do you? Orange? Yeah, that little crook down at the wholesale house fobbed on a can of orange shoe polish today. Oh, I'm sorry, ma. I've just got to get my glasses changed. That the fella with the lunchbox? Yeah. Better bees. The only one back there. Good. I'm bushed. Wash in the street, change to the west side. Oops. Hey, ma. Yeah? Better hustle back. Get a hold of your favorite seat before I open up the doors. What's the rush? Looks like there's a passenger out in that island out there waiting to get on. I picked up my suitcase and started toward the back of the streetcar. It was almost like coming home again. The doors hissed open. And the only passenger, the fella with the lunchbox, stepped off the back platform. My regular place is the second seat from the end on the left. And I sat down, and I lay the suitcase flat on the floor under my feet. Little sprinkles of rain had started to blow against the windows. Reflected in the dark glass, I could see the outline of my hat and face. But not the wrinkles or the white hair. Miss Webster? What? I hope I didn't startle you. Well, you did. You have startled me to death. Good heavens. I'm very sorry. I didn't even see you. Well, I just got on at the last stop. Say, do you mind if I sit down? Well, what do you want? My name's Ballard. Miss Webster, Jim Ballard. How do you know my name? Well, I'm the reporter who did that story on you in the Times. Oh, you're the one, eh? Didn't you like it? I ought to sue you for holding me up to public ridicule. Well, has it been embarrassing for you? Oh, not really. Just the part about having $6,000 in the bank, I don't have anything like that. Well, that was meant to read $600. Well, that's more like it. Sure, it got goofed up in the composing room. I'm real sorry. Oh, forget it. Hey, Eddie. Yeah? This is the reporter who wrote that story about me in the paper. Oh, he told me. Didn't I say you were a celebrity? Oh, go drive your streetcar. He came to apologize for printing $6,000 instead of $600. Ah, go on, my old lord. He did. Tell him. Yeah, that's right. Well, don't let her fool you, mister. She got real jewelry and everything. Eddie, now shut up. But I gots my own business. I was only just kidding, ma. Well, then stop kidding. I'm sorry. Apology accepted. Drive your streetcar. Good love. No trouble with Eddie. He likes to shoot his mouth off about nothing. All the jewelry I got in the world is this silver locket. And it's not worth $50 today. Pretty, though, ain't it? Yeah? Or did you get it? Bought it. Say, what's all the questions for? You looking for another story? Well, the paper got a lot of letters. People are curious about you. Because I sleep on the streetcars. Nothing curious about that. It's cheaper and pay-in room rent and a site more comfortable than any hotel I can afford. Well, it's not just that. The city editor had me do some digging around while you were in the county hospital. Snooping, eh? Yeah, I guess you could call it that. You're a pretty familiar figure downtown, but nobody seems to know much about where you came from. Your past. I don't have a past. At least not one that's interesting. But would you mind telling me one thing? Well, I won't know till you ask me. Well, I did a little snooping, like you said, over at the car barn. I found out that you always ride the same route at night, three round trips. What of it? Well, I thought maybe this part of the city might have some significance for you. Jefferson Boulevard? It's nothing but a slum. Well, it wasn't a slum 50 years ago, according to the back issues I read. Jefferson Boulevard used to be the Park Avenue of this burg. Well, I wouldn't go that far. Used to be some pretty wealthy families along here, but never did live down that nickname folks gave the street. What was that? Slaughterhouse Road. No kidding. Yeah? It was all meatpacking money. Man who started as ranchers or breeders and then came up here and made their fortune. Years ago, I used to work in some of the homes along here. Really? Yeah. Chamber maid, ladies maid. Only here on Jefferson, they were always forgetting where they were and calling you a hired girl. I read about some of the families, the Baskins, the O'Donnells. Oh, yeah, the Baskins lived just a couple of blocks up the way, right across the road from the porters. The porters? Did you know them? That was one of the places I worked. Lutie Porter, that the family? They were the only porters on the street. That was a strange thing happened to the girl, wasn't it? Lutie? Not if you knew her, it wasn't strange. It'd be just what you'd expect. Were you there then? Right in the house. Say, what kind of a person was she? Crazy. Just as crazy as a cold. And she looked a little like one, too. You don't seem to have a very high opinion of her. Oh, Lutie meant well enough, I guess, but she was always lying to herself and everybody else, for that matter. Say, do you know the fellow who was involved? Tompkins. Sure. Is that in the paper, too? Well, I don't think they mentioned his name, but the fellow she was in love with. Yeah, Billy Tompkins. He worked there, too. That's the one. They never could figure out what to call him, either. Stable boy, groom. Then when old Mr. Porter got the Stevens durier, and Billy learned how to drive it, Mrs. Porter kind of turned him into a chauffeur. Say, whatever did happen there? Wasn't the girl engaged to somebody else? Oh, that was a phony. It's nothing you'd ever be able to make a story out of anyway. Oh, I didn't figure it, too. I was just curious. Oh, say, speaking of the porters, there it is. The house on the corner? No, no, the one right next to it, the limestone building with the electric sign in the front window. Oh, yeah. Madam Futura, fortune telling palmistry. Oh, brother. Yeah. I think the top two floors is address makers now, or garment shop, something like that. It's quite a change, huh? Not so much from the outside, except for the sign in the window. Funny thing about that window. Now, Ludi used to sit there waiting for Tompkins on the nights that he'd be driving out her folks, bringing him home from a banquet or something, right there in the window. Just waitin'. Everybody in the neighborhood was onto her, except her own folks, and she knew it, too. She just didn't care. Of course, her mother would have died if she thought Ludi had fallen in love for a chauffeur, but she was a long time catchin' on. Oh, thanks a lot, Billy. Charles, let Tompkins come around and open the car door. I was just going to, ma'am. I can open doors. I'm no cripple. That's what we pay him for. Oh, the neighbors won't be looking at this hour. Why do we always have to put on an act? It's not an act. Thank you, Tompkins. Yes, ma'am. Yeah, thanks, Billy. Never could have made it myself. Charles. All right, all right. Well, don't stand there, Tompkins. Take my arm, take my arm. Come, give me up the steps. Yes, Mrs. Porter. I'll be lunching at Mrs. O'Donnell's tomorrow. Bring the car around for me at 12 sharp. Yes, ma'am, 12 sharp. Good night, Tompkins. Night, ma'am. Good night, Billy. Night, Mrs. Porter. Oh, I'm tellin' you I'd rather bulldog two-headed steer than spend an evening with those stuffed shirts. You just disgraced me tonight. I've never been so ashamed in my life. Like they say, you can take the boy out of the country, but you can't take the country out. Billy, over by the stairs. Loody, what are you doing out here? Well, I saw the car pull up. I slipped out the back way and came round. Look, we can't stand here. Your folks might see us. Well, if they do, I don't care. You do too, Carrie. Your mother'd fire me so fast. Not if I told her we were in love. After she went and got you engaged with that O'Donnell boy? Well, he doesn't love me any more than I love him. I told you it's just something our folks want. Why doesn't he break it off? Because he's a gentleman. The girl's got to break the engagement. What do you think your mother'd say to that? She'd yell her head off. Well, let her yell. I don't care. Dad likes you. I know he does. It's a chauffeur, maybe, but not as a son-in-law. Why do you think he's sending you to that high-toned girl school? Oh, that's mother's idea. He doesn't care about that stuff. Well, getting late, Ludie. I gotta put the car away. Let's go for a drive, Billy. Have your folks find out I'm out joy-writing on their gasoline? Well, at least we can go around the block a couple of times. You just won't rest till I'm fired, will you? All right. Just let me ride around to the garage with you. You've got to drive that far anyway. Okay, come on. For Pete's sake, don't let anybody see you, huh? Hey, do you want to ride up front? No. I'm going to be the great lady and you'll be my charioteer. It's going to be a pretty short chariot ride. The shorter the better. Oh, they had him. What'd you call me? Oh, that's the name I learned at that high-toned girl school today. He was a chariot driver, just like you. Oh, I bet he made more money. Hang on to your hat. Here we go. Oh, she was an awful nut that, Ludie. She talked Billy into driving her around that block about 15 times that night. Well, did her folks find out about it? I'll never know why, but they didn't. It woke up half the neighborhood. You know what a racket those old cars used to make. Sure. Say, what was it that finally brought things out in the old? You mean how did her folks catch on about Tomkins? Yeah. Oh, well, that happened a couple of months later and it was a mess, a hand-card mess. Lucy did it all by herself, too. Say, was she still engaged to your Donald boy? Well, that was what brought it up. Mrs. Porter thought they'd stalled long enough that she called just a little family get-together for New Year's Eve. Of course, what she really had in mind was forcing Ludie and young O'Donnell into setting a date for the marriage. Everybody in the house cooked butler maids was edgy as a lot of cats. Well, you could just tell something was in the air that night. I think poor Jimmy O'Donnell must have guessed what was doing because he showed up about half an hour ahead of schedule and he put it right on the line to Ludie. There are no two ways about it. If you don't call this off, I'm going to. Well, couldn't we stall him off a little longer? No, it's got to be now. Please, Jimmy, I've almost got Billy to the point where he's willing to ask Dad. Well, what's holding him? He told me he was almost willing a month ago. Well, he's afraid that folks won't accept him in the family. So what if they don't? It's you he's supposed to be in love with. Well, I know, but... Look, Ludie, any other time I'd say sure, sure, stretch it out until doomsday. Knowing how we both felt being engaged was just a convenience and it kept me from being involved with anyone else. Well then? Well, things have changed. I've met somebody. You're in town? Oh, no, back at school last fall. She lives in Boston. Look, I had to promise to break the engagement with you over the holidays so we could announce hours as soon as I get back east. And that's the way it's got to be, Ludie. I leave for school next Monday. Oh, all right. I'll tell the folks tonight. Okay. Do you want me to stick around for moral support? Well, I can't hurt. They may take the news a little better if they know we've both got a reason to break it off. That's the way I feel about it, I think. Ludie, are you and James in there? Yes, Mom. I hope we aren't interrupting anything. Not at all. Hello there, Jimmy. Mr. Porter. How are you, James? Oh, I'm quite well. Thank you, Mr. Porter. Oh, I think that's awfully formal. Mrs. Porter, considering we'll all be family before long, don't you? Mother, there's something... There's something Jimmy and I want to tell you. Well, we were hoping you'd have a little announcement to make tonight. No, well... Now, this may seem rather sudden. Oh, no, no. We know how impetuous you young folks are. After all, we can't expect you to wait forever. Oh, golly, you don't seem to understand. What we're trying to tell you is that there isn't going to be any marriage. We're breaking our engagement. Yes, you're... You're what? Lucy, you can't be serious. I'm very serious. Why, this is insane. I won't even listen to us. What, what, what happened, Jimmy? We just don't love each other. You mean, Lucy's broken your heart. Don't try to shield her. Oh, Mother. No, that's not the way it is. She's sickle and harebrained. Where you get it, I don't know. But let me tell you something, young lady. Annie, this ain't doing no good. She's not going to toss this fine young man over. I'm not tossing him over. He's in love with someone else. And so am I. Someone else? Well, it's a girl I met at school this fall, Mrs. I don't mean you. Annie, get a hold of yourself. Lucy, what do you mean? Who are you in love with? With Billy. Billy! Billy Tompkins? Yes. Our chauffeur? Yes, our chauffeur. And we're going to be married. You little idiot. You stupid, empty-headed... Annie, that's enough. I can't believe it. I can't believe anyone could be so blind. I say that's enough, Annie. You're always sounding off how you don't like disgraceful behavior. I've said all I have to say. Well, I'm awfully sorry, Mr. Porter. Well, no, forget it, son. These things aren't nobody's fault. No. So I guess there's not much point in going through with the party tonight. No, no, you, you go along home and wish your folks a happy new year. Oh, thank you, sir. Thank you. I'll do that. Night, Mrs. Porter. Night, James. Good night, Ludi. So long, Jimmy. All the luck in the world. Thanks. Same to you. Well... Now, one thing I ain't going to stand for is a lot of screaming. There won't be any screaming, Charles. We can thresh this out without raising my blood pressure or it don't get thrashed. Now, take your choice. It can be settled very simply. I don't see what there is to settle. You wouldn't, of course. Where are you going? Barker? Send Tompkins in here right away. Mother, this isn't fair. It's much fairer than you deserve. What have you got in mind, Annie? Ludi says this servant is in love with her. He is. And don't you call him that. Well, we'll see if he is. He's just afraid you won't accept him in the family. He's quite correct. Now, Annie, just a minute. I don't say Billy's my first choice for a son-in-law, but I ain't become such a stuffed shirt that I forgot I was born in a ranch house. No, don't talk nonsense. Where do you think I was born? Well, then, what's all this up with you to talk about not accepting him? Because I'm not blind, and I don't think he's in love with Ludi. I think he's a climber. Oh, that's a nice way to talk. Well, what else does that mean? Afraid we won't accept him in the family. Well, he doesn't want to be stuffed. But what if he is? You're the one he's supposed to be in love with. Well, stop saying that. Well, it's the first time I have said it. I guess it was Jimmy who said it before. But Billy does love me. I know he does. All right. Let's see how much he loves you. Come in. Want to see me, sir? Yeah. Come in, Billy. Just broke my engagement to Jimmy O'Donnell, Billy. I've told the folks about you and me. How we want to get married? You shouldn't have done that, Ludi. Why not? True, isn't it? Yeah, but they don't want me for a son-in-law. Do you? Do you, Miss Porter? No, Tompkins, I don't. Ludi and I ran off and got married. You'd throw us out, wouldn't you? I wouldn't let you step inside this house again. Was that how you feel too, Mr. Porter? You'd be on your own, Billy. That's what I thought. You see, Ludi, it's no use. What do you mean it's no use? What are you in love with me or this house? Ludi, you, of course... Then why aren't you willing to marry me and forget about my folks and whether they like you or hate you or anything? Not that easy. I don't want to be a chauffeur all my life. Oh, you wouldn't be, you crazy fool. Don't you see, if you really loved me and married me, you wouldn't be. They'd be glad to help you. Well, I do love you. Well, you do not, not enough. Not to take me without the family blessing and a big, fat future. Ludi, I do love you. Oh, get up. Look, you can love someone and still not want to be a jumping jack all your life. Oh, get up, get up. I'm going. Ludi, we just did it to show you. Oh, sure. You did it to show me you were right. It would have made me happy. Why did you have to prove anything? He loved me as much as he could. Want to be a chauffeur? That's all? And the day after that, Ludi poured her right away? Just skipped out, not a word, not a note. Oh, say, look over there to the east. It's getting gray. Yeah. Say, you know, we're almost downtown again? Third time around. Well, guess I wasn't as tired as I thought. You're a pretty good listener, young fella. Well, thank you. Sorry, I couldn't have given you something worth putting in your paper. Well, I might be able to make something out of the fact that you used to work for Ludi Porter. Oh, I wouldn't do that. Why not? That was a big story when she ran off. Yeah, but it ain't any news now. Besides, you'd have to tell that part about Jimmy O'Donnell. And that wouldn't do him any good. Well, who's Jimmy O'Donnell? Ray Crowe O'Donnell. The chairman of the First National? That's Jimmy. Well, what do you know? I kind of figured. You'd just as soon leave him alone. Well, listen, there's just one thing. How did you happen to hear all the conversation that night? Conversation? Mm-hmm. You weren't in the drawing room. Neither was the butler or the upstairs maid, but they all heard it. All right, how? Floor registers. What they used to heat the rooms with. Put your ear to one of those. Put it here, everything in the house. Oh, I see. That's how come gossip don't move so fast these days. Too many radiators. Well, next stop's mine. I'm the one right after. Say, can I buy you some breakfast? No, thanks. I'm going to have to break a precedent and get me a room this morning. I'm exhausted. You know, it's strange about Ludi. Yeah, well, she was nuts, like I told you. I wonder what became of her. Oh, she died long, long time ago. Are you sure? Got it firsthand. Ludi Porter's dead. Been dead for years. You know, just from what you've told me about her, I kind of wish I'd known her. I'll be glad you didn't. She was as nutty as a J-bird. You know, you make her sound pretty interesting, though, like thinking to use that funny nickname she called Billy that night in the car. Oh, yeah, let's see, something out of a book she'd read. I don't know, she used to... Well, she used to call him that all the time. Well, I could never remember it. Something out of Greek mythology about a fella who drove the sun for a chariot. Oh, she was always showing off her high-toned education. You're on street, downtown. Well, thanks a lot, Miss Webster. I hope I see you around. Good luck, young fella. You want to get off next block, don't you, ma? Yes, I'm coming. I'm coming. You're that newspaper guy. No, but he seemed like a nice kid. Ma, you're not still sore, are you? Sore about what? Oh, and I was kidding about you having some real jewelry. Oh, no, I just bought this one locket. I got nothing to hide. I was just kidding you. Well, don't worry, Eddie, we're still friends. Just let me give you a hand down the island, and we'll see you tomorrow night, same time. 11.14 on the dot. Goodbye. You sure you're not sore, Ma? What makes you think I'm sore? Well, you always say goodbye that other way. You know, kidding me. Oh, I just forgot. Thanks for the chariot ride, Fayeton. This is Jack Bailey again. So, in my business, I run into an awful lot of nervous people, and it's understandable. You take average people, put them in front of a microphone or a television camera, ask them questions, and you'd be surprised at things that go on inside their heads. For instance, they imagine hundreds of millions of very important people, all nine feet tall with fangs four inches long, just listening and waiting to pounce on them in case they make a mistake. Or maybe if they're a little shy of imagination, they feel like the audience might not like them, and they can't quite bear the thought of being disliked by all those people at the same time. Now, this kind of nervousness is called stage fright. I get it. In fact, I know very few performers who don't. An announcer, I know, has been in the business almost 30 years, and he still claims a couple of bobcats always start fighting in his stomach just before it's his turn to go on. An actress, everybody knows, yawns. That's right. She yawns for a good 10 minutes before every performance trying to relax. Now, I don't think it works, but anyway, she keeps trying. Now, along about this point, you might wonder what I'm trying to sell. Fact of the matter is it's prayer. You see, in your business, as in mine, you're never really alone out there on the stage. God's always there to help, and as sure as he made little green apples and everything else in the universe, he will help if you ask him. A football team before a game, a boxer before a fight, the cast of a play, the family in the home, all have God's help available for the asking. Prayer is the asking. And when you ask for his help, ask together with the other members of your family. The family that prays together stays together. All things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. Family Theater has brought you transcribed Lauderhaus Roe starring Bula Bondi. Jack Bailey was your host. Others in our cast were Irene Tedrow, Charlotte Lawrence, Lawrence Dobkin, John Daener, Lamont Johnson, and Herb Ellis. The script was written and directed 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 with the blessing of God may be upon you and your home and inviting you with us next week when Family Theater will present Old Friends starring Frank Lovejoy. Join us, won't you? Family Theater has broadcast throughout the world and originates in the Hollywood studios of the world's largest network. The Family Theater Radio Network for All America.