 The Mutual Broadcasting System, in cooperation with Family Theatre Incorporated, presents A Star for Helen starring Guy Kibbe, with a Family Theatre Orchestra directed by Max Tehr. Robert Alda is your host. More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. Good evening. When you heard me say more things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of a few seconds ago, you probably had a feeling that you had heard those words before but couldn't quite place them. Well, you more than likely came across them when you were in school. They're from a poem written by the very famous Alfred Lord Tennyson, and they contain an amazingly important thought. Just say that line over with me now and think about it while you're saying it. More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. Believe me, that's more truth than poetry. You'll never know how much prayer can do until you've prayed, and that's the real reason for this Family Theatre. We want to remind you how important prayer, family prayer, is. We believe that just as nothing can take the place of the family toward making the right kind of world, nothing can take the place of family prayer toward making the right kind of family. Pray together tonight for a family that prays together, stays together. My name's Ed Branigan. I was thinking maybe I ought to tell you about Helen, Helen Jackson. She's a nice kid, one of our tenants. Being as I'm the janitor of this house, I got to know the tenants. I've been here for over 20 years, and I know Helen. She's the girl who sells perfume and soap and those nice smell and things in the department store downtown. When Helen was a kid, six years old, she used to come down into the basement and talk to me. You see, I always made it a point to keep a bag of jelly beans handy. This is like it was. Hello, Mr. Branigan. Hey, hello, Helen. School out already? Uh-huh. Been a good girl in school today? Uh-huh. I got another gold star in my book. Another one? It's for my ABCs. See? I'm proud of you, Helen. Let me see. Now, you've got a gold star Monday, a gold star Tuesday, and a gold star Wednesday. And today, Thursday, another one. That's because I'm smart. And how's your behavior? Well, I'm good in school. Are you always good? Well, I'm always good. Now, look here, Helen. You wouldn't tell a lie to me, would you? No, Mr. Branigan. It's a sin to tell a lie. My mother told me. That's right. It's a sin to tell a lie. Now, Helen, tell me something. What would you think of a little girl who cheated with gold stars? Cheated? With gold stars? Yeah. I mean, suppose a girl in 1B knew that every time she got a gold star, she'd get jelly beans. Just like I give you jelly beans every time you get a gold star. Now, suppose this little girl should go up to the 5 and 10-cent store and buy a box of her own gold stars, see? And suppose she pasted her own gold stars in her book. Just, uh, well, just a fool, people, and get jelly beans. I didn't taste my own gold stars. Honest, Mr. Branigan. Now, Helen? Honest, I didn't, Mr. Branigan. Don't go away, Helen. Come here. Your mother wouldn't like you if she knew you told lies, would she? If you tell lies, you disobey God. And if you disobey your own mother. And a good girl doesn't disobey her own mother, does she? No. Does she, Helen? No. Okay, now what does a good girl do? I don't know. A good girl honors her father and her mother. Just like it says in the commandments, honor thy father and thy mother. I haven't gotten you, father. Okay, but it's a commandment anyway. Now say it after me. Thou shalt honor. Thou shalt honor. Thy father and thy mother. Thy father and thy mother. You promised me you're going to do that forever and ever. Yes. Okay, here's your jelly beans, Helen. Yes, she was a skinny little brown-eyed thing. Black hair, smart as a fox. She sure had me fooled for a while with that box of gold stars. She bought it Woolworth's. Yeah, the kid was always hungry. Hungry for something. Jelly beans, donuts, but mostly for love. Kids love to be loved. And with Helen, well, her own man was dead and her mother. Now, maybe I ought to tell you a sort of confidential about her mother. When Helen grew up to be 12, this is like it was. Hello, Helen. Hello, Mr. Branigan. You've been sitting out here all afternoon on that stoop. It's nice and sunny here on the steps. And how's school coming? Oh, it's all right. Are you getting the algebra any better? You know how much does X equal and all that stuff? It's still sort of tough. Pretty hard to get gold stars and that stuff, eh, Helen? Remember the days long ago when you had your own box of gold stars? It seemed so long ago. And remember down in the basement? That was the day you told me about the Fourth Commandment. That's right. Honor thy father and thy mother. You never forgot that, did you, Helen? No, Mr. Branigan. I've always remembered it. What's the matter, kid? It's nothing. Yeah, it's nothing. I've been watching you, Helen, seeing you sitting out there on the stoop plenty of afternoons. All by yourself. It's really none of my business, Helen, but what I mean about your mother. She keeps drinking, Mr. Branigan. I know, kid. For almost two weeks. Every day she stays in the room. It's bad enough to see a man, but when a woman, your own mother... Yeah, well, I don't know. Why do people have to keep drinking? Oh, different reasons, maybe. Some people got a lot of worries, so they drink. They want to get troubles off their mind. They want to be happy. My mother isn't happy, Mr. Branigan. Drinking whiskey doesn't make you happy. Look, Helen, I don't know why your mother drinks. I'm sorry for you, kid, honest. But, well, your mother's a good woman, Helen. You know that. She'd be all right if only she... And remember, she worked hard all her life. Worked to put red in your mouth and clothes on your back. I don't know. But someday she's going to snap out of it. You wait and see. I said a million prayers already. All right. Keep on saying your prayers. And now, why don't you go upstairs? Maybe your mother needs you. Sometimes I wish I could run away and never go upstairs into the rooms again. I know what you mean. But remember what I said to you down in the basement. All right, Mr. Branigan. I remember. Thou shall honor thy father and thy mother. That's the idea. No matter what happens, kid, that's the anger. And when you do that, Helen, you get a real gold star in the books. Of course, I'm only a janitor, and I don't know much about psychology and things like that. And as for Mrs. Jackson, Helen's mother, well, I ain't making any conclusions. All I know is she's a good woman at heart, see? But she hits the bottom. And my heart bleeds for the kid, for Helen. Like the day when Helen was going to be graduated, for example. That's swell, Helen. You were the what? The valedictorian. That means I give the closing speech of the graduation exercises. Swell, swell. I knew you had it in you. But what I came to see you about is my mother. Yeah? I'd like her to be at the graduation. Sure, naturally. I bought her a new dress. That job pays dividends. A job after school, huh? It's a beautiful dress. She looked lovely in it. Well, of course she will. Your mother's a lovely woman. It's just that I'm... I'm afraid she may go off again. I mean... Well, you know what I mean. Ah, stop worrying. It's going to be on a Friday night. Yeah, sure. So, could you... Well, it's a scheme just between us. Go ahead, I'm listening. Just a bit of psychology. Psychology? I want you to give her a big boost. Tell her how nice you look in the dress. Tell her about the graduation and how proud she ought to be. You know, with me. Her own daughter, given the valedictory. Boy, you're a fox. Really, Mr. Branigan? I'm only trying to... Sure, sure, I know, kid. You want your mother to be there first class. Like all the other mothers and fathers, huh? That's right, Mr. Branigan. She likes you. She trusts you. Leave it to me. She'll be wearing gardenias. And she'll look like Queen Victoria. And she'll be as... As... As... I was going to say, she'd be as sober as a judge. I was going to say that to Helen. Helen, who was looking at me with her sweet, brown, hungry eyes. Ah, she's a swell kid, Helen is. But comes the graduation night. I'm walking upstairs to the Jackson flat. I'm knocking at the door. Oh, hello, Helen. I'm here. I'm going to take your mother to the graduation first class. Got a cab downstairs. It's all right, Mr. Branigan. You needn't bother. What's the matter, Helen? Mother doesn't... She doesn't want to go. Thanks anyway. What do you mean? Again? You mean... Hello, Mr. Branigan. I was expecting you. Are we ready for the graduation? Go inside, Mom. Back in the room. Don't push me. Go back in the room. Ah, that's your children for you, Mr. Branigan. No respect. Go back into the room. What are you yelling about? It's all right, Helen. It's not all right. It's not all right. It's awful. Ah, you make me tired. No sense. Not a ounce of sense in your... I'm sorry, Helen. I thought you'd be okay. I mean, I tried hard. Thanks anyway. Thanks for everything, Mr. Branigan. Come here. Come out in the hall. Close the door. Now, look at me straight, kid. You're 17 years old, almost a woman. I want you to go down there and give your valedictorian speech a C. Forget about up here. Leave it to me. You go down there to that graduation and be a credit, not only to yourself, but also... A credit to my mother, too. Is that it? Don't say it like that, Helen. Be a credit to your mother. And as we, your children, go forth into life, Alma Mater, we promise to honor your traditions, for you truly have been our Alma Mater, our fostering mother. You have opened our eyes to the beauties of the arts and sciences. You've guided us, your children, at your knee. You've nourished us and pointed the way like a true mother to a better and richer life. We shall always cherish your name. We shall honor you. We shall love you always, Alma Mater, our mother. And so the kid gets graduated, like millions of other kids, and she goes to work also like millions of other kids, like yours and mine, for instance. For three years she worked down in the department store. She sells colognes and fancy bath salt and things like that. To see Helen standing there behind the counter with her nice, brine eyes, looking at you over the little bottles of perfume, you'd never think she had a worry in the world. For three years she works like that. Then one afternoon, blink, fireworks start up in the Helen's house. But Helen, maybe you're making a mistake. I've got my mind made up, Mr. Brannigan. Just help me with the bags, please. Where are you going? I'll find rooms. I want to see how normal people live. You're walking out on me, Helen. Walking out on you? Why, you drunk... Easy, Helen, easy. All your life you've been walking out on me. For 15 years I've put up with your drunken promises. I was willing to do it. I was ready to spend the rest of my life supporting you if you would only try to live like a decent human being, like other people. Well, I'm sick and tired of this rotten routine. I'm tired of making excuses to people, to my friends, keeping them away. I'm tired of being shamed and disgraced. I didn't know what I was doing, Helen. I didn't mean to go down to the store today. What happened, Helen? Ask the girls at the department store. Ask the boss, the customers. Ask everybody. Sure, maybe I'm proud. Maybe I should forget it. Forget the whispering and the talking. But they've got me labeled now like one of the bottles on the shelf. Helen Jackson. Poor girl. Alcohol base. So, you don't believe things like that can happen, huh? In this present day and age. And listen, I'm not talking about sawdust and stale beer in the gay 90s, mister. I'm talking about now, today, tonight. In this present day and age, there's an awful lot of homes operating on an alcohol base. I see them, I know. But, well, that's neither here nor there. The fact is, Helen moves away, takes up a room somewhere downtown. One night on the phone, she says. It's nice done. Did you get a job yet, Helen? Yes. Another department's took out her again. They just can't keep you away from all them perfumes, can they? That's right. Hmm, so-so. Maybe someday you might change your mind and come back, Helen. Well, you see, that was the situation. Same old story. And let me tell you, it ain't the first time I've seen homes broken up by what is commonly referred to as demon rum. A drink? Heck, I like a drink myself once in a while. What is my good friend up at St. Matthews says? It ain't the use, but the abuse. Of course, you know that as well as I do. There wouldn't be any use in me telling you this story about Helen Jackson if it wasn't for something that happened about six weeks later. It seems she was standing behind the counter and a fellow walks up to her. Could you help me, Miss? Surely. I'd like to get a bottle of good perfume. We have several of the standard brands. Any particular... Oh, this has to be special. I see. For the one and only. That's right. The one and only. My mother. Oh, your mother. What's the matter? Don't mothers rate perfume? Yes, of course. You see, it happens to be her birthday and, well, she's getting on in years and it's nice to keep reminding them that they're not getting old. I figured a bottle of good perfume would... I say, what's the trouble, Miss? Nothing. You're not sick, are you? What kind of perfume do you want? Oh, uh, uh, that kind. $12, please. Okay. Okay. Now, that was like on a Tuesday. On Wednesday night, what do you think happens? This is a nice place, Joe. I thought you'd like it. You know, these, these booze make it kind of cozy. But, uh, get back to my favorite subject. I had a hard time forgetting the way you looked at me over the county yesterday. That why you made the dinner date? Maybe. You know, I like lonesome people. What makes you think I'm lonesome? Your eyes. The way you look at me. The way you speak. Am I that tragic? I didn't say you were tragic. I said you looked lonesome. And I like lonesome people. But we've known each other for only three months, Joe. I know it, Helen, but it makes no difference if I love to be a millionaire to feel the same. I... I love you, Helen. Say it again, Joey. I love you, Helen. Joey, I'm not lonesome anymore. Or if you only say the word, I'll take you right home with the family, introduce you. Or you'll find them a bit stuffy, perhaps, but you don't have to be scared. No split infinities, you mean? What do you say, Helen? Joey, I'd love to marry you. If you want to know the truth, that's it. Oh, that's all I wanted to hear. Come on, kiddo, let's spread the good news. Oh, you were wonderful tonight in there. I told you the family would like you. You'd better take me home now, Joe. Oh, what's the rush? Let's stay here in the garden for a while. Oh, really, I'm... I'm tired tonight. Oh, sure you are. But I'm going to fix that up forever. Helen, I... I never knew until tonight that you were practically an orphan. Your folks wanted to know, Joe. They were curious about background. That's why I told them about my father. He died when I was too young to remember. Yes, and your mother died when you were 12? Yes. My mother died when I was 12. Oh, if she was anything like you, Helen, she must have been a beautiful woman. My mother was. She was a lady, Joey. Well, that's how things was developing. So a couple of nights later, I'm sitting in my room and I hear a knock on the door. Come in. Why, Helen, what are you doing back here? Hello, Mr. Branigan. I came back to pick up some papers. Papers? Personal stuff, birth certificate and letters. Is my mother upstairs? No, I saw her go out about 10 minutes ago, Helen. That's good. It'll be easier with her out of the way. Why, you seem to be in a big hurry, young lady. I am. Joey and I are getting married this month. Oh, that's very nice, Helen. May is a swell month to get married in. We're going to Massachusetts. I see. We're settling down there. Oh, you mean for good? Well, I... Yes, we won't be seeing much of you from now on, eh, Helen? That's right. I want to get away forever from everything that could remind me. I'm Helen Jackson. Well, we went upstairs together, Helen and me. The flat was, well, still sort of dingy-looking. I could almost see Helen shiver when she went in. She walked straight to her room and got the papers. And all of a sudden, Helen was looking at something. It was lying on the chair. It was a book. A nickel composition book. That's an old book of yours, Helen May. The one you used in first grade, remember? Where did she get it? I don't know. She must have saved it all these years. Your mother was always proud of the gold stars you got, Helen. You mean she's been saving this book? Yeah. She takes it out lots of times. And Helen, she looks at it, and she... Well, she always says to me, Helen got more gold stars than any kid in the world. Yeah. Gold stars. You know how parents are, Helen. They're proud of the things you get in school. Even as far back as 1A and 1B. Gold stars. Maybe you better believe in now, Helen. She might be back any minute. All right. You might as well take this book with you. After all, they're your own gold stars. Yeah. The kid went out of the house that night. She was lonesome. All her life, she was hungry for something. Mostly for love, like anybody else. And in a way, she had the perfect setup. Yeah, the perfect setup. Later, she told me about the setup. That's right. It was a perfect setup, Mr. Branigan. Oh, it was wonderful being near Joey. I guess I love him about as much as it's possible for a girl to love a fella. Sure, I might have been happy with him and his people. Respectable family, conservative. Everything's so right and proper and good. But I was playing a game, Mr. Branigan. It was a funny game. I knew what I... I knew I was walking away from something, turning my back on something. You know, skeletons in the closet. You know, Mr. Branigan. Sure, I know what you mean. I was thinking of my mother. I lied about my mother, or they'd never understand. Even Joe might not understand. You see, I... I wanted Joey. I wanted to keep him forever. So I tried to pull the curtain on everything I was supposed to remember. I wanted to forget I was Helen Jackson. I wanted to forget that I ever had a mother. But I couldn't forget. Not after that night in my mother's room when we found that crazy book. I kept remembering that day down in the basement long ago. I was five or six years old, and you said... Thou shalt honor? Thy father and thy mother. You said I'd get a gold star for that, Mr. Branigan. Well, I had a million gold stars with Joey, with a house in Massachusetts, with kids, with all the simple things that any girl wants in this day and age. Security, affection, love. All these things I had until I picked up that funny little book of my mother's chair. Then something kicked the bottom out of my million stars. Maybe it's my conscience. Maybe it's being old-fashioned. Maybe it's being sentimental. I know what you mean. You still love your mother. I love my mother, Mr. Branigan. I love her despite her weakness. That's the truth. I couldn't walk out on her. Not even if it meant a billion stars. So I had to tell Joey. So I'm waiting on the stoop that night. The moon is big and yellow, coming up behind the tributary bridge. Then I hear footsteps along the street. I'm waiting for those footsteps. She's carrying her suitcases. Hello, Mr. Branigan. Been expecting you tonight, Helen. Why? Oh, I understand you call off something off today. A marriage or something, I think. Who told you? A guy who's waiting out there in the hall for you. Hello, Helen. Joey. How did you know where I lived? Don't ask so many questions, Helen. Now, why don't you two people sit out here on the stoop? Maybe you got something to talk over. I got a little work to do in the basement. Yeah, when you're a janitor, your work is never done. Well, what are you going to say, Joey? You were willing to come back to this? That's right. To my mother. It's not your style, is it, Joey? No gardens to walk in. Helen, all of a sudden, the picture is getting clearer. You know, I never really knew you until now. Why, I think you're the nicest and bravest thing I've ever met. You've got to believe me. I mean, well, you're the kind of a girl a fella needs. Sure, you were ashamed. I guess there's lots of people with lots of troubles. Lots to be ashamed of. They call them crosses. The crosses you've got to bear. Helen, may I help you carry some of the load? You mean it? Oh, Joey, hold me and never let me go. And of course I don't want to get too nosy, so I let them sit there on the stoop by themselves. But I did take a peek a little later, and I saw him with his arms around her, which is a nice thing for Helen. And also I noticed over the tributary bridge, right behind them, the big moon, big and golden. It was coming up. And I can't help thinking as I watch it, how much it looks like a big gold star. Another star for Helen. Before we say goodnight, I want to say we hope you'll put our suggestion that you pray together as a family to work tonight. Because we believe that family prayer can go a long way toward making your family a happy one. The kind of family that stays together. A family that's interested in one another, proud of one another. A family that works together and has fun together. The kind of family everyone would like to have. And don't only pray together tonight, pray together every night. And don't give up easily. You've got to stick with it. You've got to have faith and sincerity. And the answer you get will be the right answer, even if it isn't the one you thought you wanted. But pray. Pray for the help you need to keep your family together and happy. No matter how great the need or problem, we don't have to face it alone. We can get help. The most wonderful and powerful help a man could ask for. Ask and you shall receive, remember? Ask God to help. Pray. Pray together as a family. Because a family that prays together stays together. Before saying good night, I'd like to thank Guy Kibbe for his performance as Mr. Branigan and Betty Arnold for her portrayal of the older Helen. A special word of thanks also to Timothy Mulvey for writing tonight's play and to Max Tehr for his music. Mel Williamson and John Ryder produced and directed the program. Others who appeared in our play tonight were Mary Lou Harrington, Grace Seal of Inda and James Eagles. Next week our family theatre stars will be John Lund, Moreno Sullivan and Anne Blythe in Three Way Love. This is Robert Alder bidding you good night and God bless you. This series of the Family Theatre Broadcast is made possible by the thousands of you who felt the need for this kind of program by the Mutual Broadcasting System which has responded to this need by actors and technicians in the motion picture and radio industries who have volunteered their services to fulfill it. This program is heard overseas through the facilities of the United States Armed Forces Radio Services. Tony Lofrano speaking. This is the Mutual Broadcasting System.