 The mutual broadcasting system in cooperation with Family Theatre Incorporated presents the High Boarded Fence, starring Ward Bond and Mary Eleanor Donahue. Lon McAllister is your host. More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. They say that spring is the time when people fall in love. The poets write about it, songsters sing about it, and everybody talks about it, so it must be true. And you hear a lot about spring house cleaning too. You know, spring is a wonderful time because there's a renewal and reawakening of so many things around us. And a wonderful thing in a home is a renewal and reawakening of love of God. Yes, and the expression of that love in the daily practice of family prayer awakens a new harmony and peace and happiness in a home. Family prayer means all the beautiful things that home is meant to have. Family prayer means springtime all the time in our homes. Lon McAllister returns following tonight's Family Theatre story, The High Boarded Fence, starring Ward Bond and Mary Eleanor Donahue. At the edge of the Elmswood River, a high boarded fence forms a barrier against the town. A watchman stands guard at the narrow gate. Above him is a sign with a single word, danger. Okay fellas, passes. Mike Newton, 379. Newton, 379, okay. Andy Brown, 424. Brown, 424, okay. Hey Mike! Yeah. What's this, a super secret jam? They gotta board it up like we're building an A-bomb. No, Elmsford's a high-class town. What's that got to do with it? You remember digging the Holland Tunnel in New York? Yeah. Well, didn't they board that up too? High-class people might get scared of sandhugs. What are you trying to do, kid me? I once saw where they had holes in a fence around a job so people could peek through. Hey, that's a good idea. I think I'll borrow me a few peep holes and charge a quarter of a look. Even with inflation, nobody will pay a quarter to look at you. Now something Mike, that's what I need. A good racket where I won't be stuck down the town trying to blast my way into a river. Then I'd relax and grab the super chief to California. I hope they take about 50 years to finish this job. What, are you looking for trouble? I thought you were going to get out of Sandhaw and retire before the bends get you. Some day soon. And this is the kind of a town where I'd like to settle down. It's got class. Yeah, but I mean, hey, what are they trying to do? Hey, it's easy out there, will ya? They must have jumped the pressure 20 pounds in three seconds. Got some soft spots in the tunnel. I think they're going to use about 50 pound pressure. You should be used to that, Andy. Nobody ever gets used to high air. You know, yesterday I heard about Matt Sorgan. Remember him? Yeah. He was sitting in one of these air locks on the job down in Colorado. Some dope jumped the pressure up to 45 before he was... Andy, you always begin the day with some kind of a sad story. With a sad story from Matt. He's still in the hospital paralyzed with a bend. Well, that's the chance you take. That's why they pay you 25 bucks an hour. It's not worth it. Well, it's worth it to me. I've been saving, waiting till I could get to a town like this. It's going to mean everything I ever wanted for Peggy Ann. You're lucky to have a kid like that. Don't I know it. Okay, you can get into the hoist now. Pressure, 39 pounds, depth, 790. Pretty hot down there, watch it. Mode, digging down a red hot heat. That's us. But there'll be a blow today. That's what you always say. For once, Andy, why don't you try to be cheerful? Every time I get down my heart to my mouth, waiting to see the wall shake like jelly and split. You've only been in one blow? I still wake up and I gel on my head off, going through it over again. It's like a hurricane. And I'm in the middle waiting to get sucked in by the river. But right, I should be dead. Me too, maybe. Say, when do you see the house I bought? You bought a house and we've only been here a week. Job's good for two years, ain't it? Okay, 379, 424. No way! Two stories and the porch in front. Big hedges all around. The kid's nuts about it. About 13, now, ain't he? He's 12, her last birthday. Here's a cute trick. I only wish Helen were here to see her now. Mighty hard, Andy. Losing Helen three years ago. Yeah, yeah. Kinda tough placing the kid without a mother. Sure has been tough. Them construction camps are rough going. No decent schooling, living in barracks. But now, she's gonna be a little lady. She's gonna have just as good as anybody. You're really going after it's serious. This is what I've been saving for. We're gonna live different, better, like everybody else does in Elmsford. Now, as I was saying, the Elmsford Tunnel is a miracle of engineering and all of us have a great opportunity to learn about it. I'd like Peggy Ann Newton to explain what she knows about it. Her father works in the Tunnel. Peggy Ann? Well, Dad is a Sandhog. Peggy Ann's father is a skilled workman. He's an engineer, isn't he, Peggy Ann? No, he's a Sandhog. Please, children. And what is a Sandhog, Peggy Ann? Well, Dad goes down into the Tunnel. And it's huge and made like a funnel. He's sally. He sure has a lot of fun. Look at the get-up she's wearing. I wouldn't be seen dead in the tunnel. Quiet, please. Go on, Peggy Ann. They go down into the tunnel that is sunk under a bed of the river. And they dynamite and dig, parting inch-by-inch in terrific heat. And they wear helmets and hip boots like pirates. Cheap. Boy, that's something. She's a show-off. Glass, please, no whispering. That's very interesting, Peggy Ann. Well, there's a section of the river they have to fight against and the rocks. It's all mud and sand, so that's why they're called Sandhawks. They can only work for short time because of the terrific heat and pressure. There aren't many men who can take the air. Take the air? The high air is 30 or 40 or 50 pounds. Yes, I see. That's a severe strain on breathing. Yes. And if they come out in the ordinary air too quick, they get the bends. What's the bend? Joseph Rankin, please don't interrupt. Excuse me, Miss Arnold. I was only interested. When you get the bends, my dad says it's like swallowing a ball of fire. And maybe he'll never be able to walk again. Gosh. That was very interesting, Peggy Ann. Well, that's the dismissal, Bear. I'm sure we'll have many very interesting discussions about building tunnels. Class is dismissed. Mike, you sure picked yourself the classiest neighborhood in town. I thought you'd like to see it, Andy. When it comes to my kid, nothing's too good. I almost feel like I want to get dressed up to come out. Hello, Mr. Newspaper. Oh, hello, Joy. Are you going to play ball in your foot and on today, Mr. Newspaper? Sure, you get the gang. I brought my friend Andy along just that. I've done enough work for one day. You want to play ball with the kids, don't you, Andy? Why? Good, good. This is our pitcher, Joey Rankin, Andy. He's going to make a great ball player someday. How do you do, Mr... Mr... Brown. Brown's the name. Mr. Brown. I'll go and round up the game. Sure, we'll be ready, Joey. How do you like that? Mr. Brown. It's high class, but they're a bunch of regular kids. Well, I've had more fun. The way till I show you what I got in the backyard, I've been building it with the kids. Well, here's the house. This place? How do you like it? It's a regular palace. Well, not quite, but it's everything I was hoping for. Hey, that lawn looks like something you'd seen in a park. I got a guy that takes care of it, too. There's a lot of other places on the street. Come on. Peggy Ann? Peggy Ann? That's funny. Kids usually right here at the front door waiting for me. You sure got yourself something, Mike. It's for the kid she's going to have. I just wonder, wait a minute, Andy. I'll run upstairs and see if she's around. Peggy, what's the matter, sweetheart? You sick? No, Daddy. I'm all right. Well, what are you lying down on the bed for, like you were sick? It's just... What is it, sweetheart? Oh, I guess I'm just tired. Well, I'll get a doctor. There must be some... Mike! I don't need a doctor. Who's downstairs, Dad? Andy and Joey and his pals. We're going to play some ball. That's wonderful, Dad. Can I play? Well, I thought you were sick. No. I'm feeling fine now. Maybe you got me puzzled. I'm taking you down to see a doctor tomorrow. Come on, Dad. Let's get down and have some fun. Oh, Rankin. Oh, well. Good morning, Mr. Newton. Hard work? Clipping that hedge by hand? It's got to be done. It runs wild. I was watching you and I thought maybe you'd like to try this gadget I bought. Does it easier by electricity? We can plug it in the porch here. Please don't bother. Oh, no bother, no bother. Look, this is how it works. See? Shut that thing off. You're cutting it too deep. Oh? Well, try it yourself, Rankin. You can regulate it any way you want to. Thank you. Well, it's easy once you get the hang of it. Electrical devices make me nervous, Mr. Newton. Yeah? Well, I guess I'm so used to working with my hands. You don't have much chance for that, working at a bank, do you? No, there isn't. Excuse me? My wife is waiting for me to help her with a rose. Sure. I'm kind of disappointed, though. I thought, well, us being neighbors and all, I'd be glad to have you use my clippers any time. But I won't be needing it. Uh-huh. Well, goodbye. Oh, incidentally, Mr. Newton. Yeah? My son, Joey. Oh, nice kid. He's been playing in your yard lately, I believe. Well, a bunch of the kids are getting me to show him tunnel construction. Very interesting, no doubt. But Joey was very late for dinner last night. Oh, gosh, I didn't mean to keep... Youngsters forget about time. But we would appreciate it, my wife and I, and I think I speak for the other parents in the neighborhood. If you... Well, sure. I'll watch that. They're great kids. Yes, we think they're fine, children, Mr. Newton. And we want to keep them that way. Oh, we just don't want to have them injured in any way. You understand? Yes. I'll be careful. Mighty careful, Mr. Rankin. Tunnels coming. Hey, Joey, it's swell. Just like... Where's the gang today, Joey? Oh, everybody said they couldn't come. They had... Well, they had other things to do. Oh. Your dad coming home soon? Yes, I think so. Gosh, he knows everything. They's fallen. I only wish my father... Hey, there's Sally! Joey! Joey Rankin, there you are. If your father knows you're back here after what happened, there's going to be trouble for you. What happened? Well, our parents have decided... to pay any attention to her, Peggy. She's a sucker. I am not. And you know what our parents said. They don't want us to become groundhogs. Sandhogs? See, you don't even know what you're talking about. Well, it's all the same. That's why they didn't want Peggy to come to our party tonight. Peggy Ann, where you going? Oh, just leave me alone. Just leave me alone, please. I got a surprise for you, Peggy. I bought a car today, a second-hand car. I'm picking it up tomorrow morning. That's nice. What's the matter, sweetheart? You didn't eat any dinner. I'm not hungry tonight, Dad. That reminds me, I was going to take you to see a doctor. But when I saw you playing ball, I... I'm not sick. Dad, do we have to live here long? Here? You mean in this house? Yes. I hate it. Why, sweetheart, this was... was everything I'd hoped for. What's wrong, baby? Didn't you notice anything wrong when you came home today, Dad? Oh, no one was around. Well, yes, but I thought... Well, they're not supposed to be around anymore. All the kids have to keep away from here. And they're having a party tonight. Who told you this? Sally came over here this afternoon, and just because her father's president of a company, they can have a party. Wait a minute. Let me get this straight. You mean they're having a party with the kids in the neighborhood, and they left you out? Oh, it doesn't matter, Dad. I can get along with them. Where is this party? I'll get down and show them something they didn't expect. Come on, sweetheart. We'll give them some fireworks for their party. Please, Dad, please. Well, it's bad enough the way it is now. Without. Without what, baby? Fighting's only going to make it worse. And then... Oh, I know why we moved in here before me, but it's just not working out, Dad. It's going to be worse if you... Well, maybe you're right, sweetheart. Yes, it's like... Well, I guess we're new here. And it's a different kind of air. It's kind of like me going into the tunnel from free air to high air. And what happens if I don't stop a spell in the airlock? You get the bends? Yeah, and they're mighty painful. So you gotta be patient and waitin'. That's us, sweetheart. We gotta get used to a new place and let it get used to us. The stickin' gets me. It's this racket. You ain't built for a 50-pound pressure. Dad, it's settlein' torch. Like a firetrap, too. The emergency weldin' job. If there's a spark. Yeah, bad stuff. Yeah, it's full of high oxygen, blade up like lightning. What do we plug up with if there's a blow? Bags of cement. Yeah, that's safe. I'll tell the foreman. You work the hoist. Tell the boss we're checkin' out. Andy, here we are. You're gonna ride in my car and like it. Get in. I'm okay, now. And you take a week's layoff like Doc wants you to. Nothing to do. And you ain't goin' back to no room in house. Says who? You see, Andy? This is the perfect life. A good dinner. A good front porch with a swing. Peace and quiet. Yeah, sure. Don't know what happened to me today. I feel like a million bucks now. Say, any of your gang of kids around today? No, they don't come around much anymore. Yeah, I guess kids lose interest. I see we got neighbors. Over there in the garden. Look at my rope. A trampled, caved in. And it took me years. Oh, my poor dandy bears and my beautiful talus. Who did this, Diggle? The boys. Surely not Joey. Joey and his friends. But it's not their fault. You don't make sense, Janet. It's that sandhog. Mutant? What's he got to do with it? They are so crazy about him. He's got them all worked up about this tunnel business. I tell you, John, that man is a bad influence. Mike, it looks like you've got some nice, friendly neighbors. Yeah, I've been trying to figure this out. It's like working in a tunnel shaft, Andy. Everything's going along fine. Then a steel rock drill penetrates a cavity of compressed gas and boom. The whole thing goes off and a lot of people get burned. I don't get it. Well, Andy, I'm trying to practice a little of what Helen used to do a lot of talking about. I'm trying to be kind to the people next door. Doesn't seem to do much good. Helen always said it's bound to work in the long run. It always has. That's how she put it. Fucking soft is bad stuff. Did Doc say you won't change? Sure, sure. Well, take it easy, will you? I know what I'm doing. I was in this game when most of these guys were... They finished that welding today. Watch out, those sparks. Six-storied up. You'll make it. Andy's done for. Come on, Mike. I ain't gonna leave him. Say you're on neck, you fool. Help him on my back. Crazy. Listen, you help him on my back. What the hell? I'll break your neck. I'll set any. You ain't got a chance. The six-storied up. Let this land him. Together. You fucking and I have been waiting here. You heard what your father did. Have you seen him? No, dear. The doctor said we couldn't go in yet. The doctor's an old friend of mine. He said your father's going to be all right. Miss Newton? There's the nurse. She's calling you, Peggy. We'll wait out here. She's a sweet girl. I'm so ashamed of myself. You have a reason to be, Janet. Worrying about a man like that influencing our boy. Well, you were just as bad. I know, I know. It turns out the kids understood him better than we did. I'll make up for it with Peggy. Don't start patronizing, Janet. It's just as... Oh, Peggy. I'm... I'm so sorry, dear. Is he hurt badly? My dad's tough. His hands are burned and he had the bends. But he'll be all right in a few weeks. Dad's only worried about Andy. It's going to be quite a while before Andy's well again. Is there anything we can do? Well, Dad said he'd like to see you for a minute. Yes. All right, we'll go in. Mr. Newton? Mike's... Mike's the name. Yes, I know. Joey's always talking about what Mike can do. Joey's a good kid, Mr. Newton. The name is John, Mike. It's... it's just... I wondered if you'd kind of look out for Peggy Ann while I'm taking this rest. I'll be up and around in a week or so. You said it, you'll be up and around. Elmsford's made you into a town hero. Oh, go on. Sure, they've decided you're the kind of guy who lives the adventures most of us read about. Yeah, that's a new angle. But if you just look out for Peggy, she's kind of... I'll put an opening in the fence so she can hop back and forth between the two houses. That's nice going. Say, John, you know that electric clipper? Yes? It's there in my workshop anytime you'd like to use it. You know, tonight's play reminded me of going into a store to shop. Because today, mostly everything is made up in standardized packages. You don't have to make a cake or cook a dinner anymore. You can just add a little water to a box of ingredients and you've got a cake. Or you can open a few cans and you've got a dinner. So we sometimes get to thinking of standardizing everything and everybody. We put people in little packages and we try to measure out things that can't be measured, like charity and kindness and love. And that's what makes for a lot of misunderstanding and unhappiness among neighbors and in homes. Neither can we standardize God and put Him in a package for Sunday. We need God in our lives and in our homes every day. That's why daily family prayer is so important in all homes. Daily family prayer means God is there in our homes every day. Daily family prayer means God's daily blessing for the family that prays together, stays together. Before saying good night, I'd like to thank Ward Bond and Mary Eleanor Donahue for their performances this evening. Our thanks to Mark Carney and Phyllis Parker for writing tonight's play and to Max Ter for his music. This production of Family Theater Incorporated was directed by David Young. Others who appeared in tonight's play were Virginia Gregg, Jim Nussar, Shepherd Stradwick, Bill Bissell, Gloria McMillan and Gilbert Barnett. Next week, our Family Theater stars will be Tom Conway and Natalie Wood. In once on a golden afternoon, your hostess will be Moreno Sullivan. This is Lon McAllister saying good night and God bless you. This series of the Family Theater broadcasts is made possible by the thousands of you who felt the need for this kind of program and by the mutual broadcasting system which has responded to this need. Be with us next week at the same time when our Family Theater stars will be Tom Conway and Natalie Wood with Moreno Sullivan as hostess. Tony LaFranco speaking. This is the Mutual Broadcasting System.