 Your family theater presents Lloyd Nolan, Gene Cagney, and Carlton Young. From Hollywood, the Mutual Network, in cooperation with Family Theater Incorporated brings you The Hidden Heart, starring Gene Cagney and Carlton Young. To introduce the drama, your host, Lloyd Nolan. Thank you, Gene. We on Family Theater welcome the appearance of Gene Cagney in the very sympathetic role of Susan Parish, secretary to a successful, if possibly ruthless businessman, Jim Hughes, portrayed by Carlton Young. Let me now take you to our opening scene. Into the milling confusion of Grand Central Station at the rush hour, steps a distinguished-looking man in his early fifties. His movements are positive and self-assured. His manner, like his clothes, bears the unmistakable stamp of success. A quick scrutiny of the waiting room, and he spots a lovely woman in a smartly tailored suit. He hurries to her, and they go out to the street where a taxi waits at the curb. The door slams after them. Well, Jim, you look wonderful. How was the trip? Fine, Susan. The train was late. I hope you haven't been waiting too long. No, half an hour at the most. Anyway, I'd rather wait at Grand Central Station than at the office. Ah, it's good to be back, Susan. It's not everyone that has a secretary meet him at trains. I've missed you. That's good. You know my shorthand. Oh. And you had a sample of my typing in that report. It was a little eccentric. Couldn't you hire another secretary in Miami? Oh, I couldn't be disloyal to you. Hi, Manny. Good for me to get along without you occasionally. Reminds me of my humble beginnings. Mountains of work at the office. You'll keep busy for a while. Tell me, did you accomplish what you wanted in Miami? Yes. We now have the Lennox contract, Susan. Oh, Jim, what a wonderful move. Do you know what Lennox had the nerve to suggest after I flew down there? No, can't imagine. That we go into partnership? It was enough to make me laugh in his face. I suppose he was trying to salvage something. Naturally. He needed me. Admitted him when he begged me to see him in Miami. I didn't need him. Sooner or later, I'd gotten those contracts anyway. You turned down the partnership bid. Of course. He was hurt, or so he pretended, but he came around. He couldn't do anything else. And on my terms. Well, that must have been very satisfying. Me in partnership with Charles Lennox, imagine. If he'd bothered to find out, he'd have known I always work alone. Yes. Well, the important thing is you got the contracts. Anything pressing, or can we have some lunch? Oh, Jim, I almost forgot. Andy's in town. Andy? What's my son and heir doing in New York? It's not a Yale holiday, is it? No, no. He's just in for the weekend. He wants to talk to you. Something very mysterious. Ah, well, it'd be nice to see him. But I don't want him to get into the habit of spending every weekend in New York. That's not why I'm sending him to the Yale. Oh, I don't think he's taking advantage of you. He seemed terribly in earnest about talking to you. It hasn't been easy holding myself in check with that boy, Susan. But I wasn't going to risk ruining him by over-indulging him. Would have been easy remembering my own childhood. Andy without a mother. You've done a good job on him, Jim. You think he might be at the office? Well, I told him I'd bring you straight there. Ah, it'd be good to see him. Let's pick him up now and then we'll all have lunch together. Oh, Andy, what a wonderful story. That poor old potter never did find out who was behind it. Oh, aren't you going to miss it all when you graduate this June? Yeah, I suppose I will. But Dave and I have some plans. And if they work out, the change will be much easier. And maybe we can spend a week or two up at the large sudden. We haven't really enjoyed that place in years. Hey, that'll be swell, Dad, if you can get away. If I don't get to my desk and start at work soon, it'll take me to the summer to get caught up again. Uh, Susan said you had something you wanted to ask me, Andy. Well, I wanted you to have a good lunch and start your cigar before I told you. Listen, maybe it'd be better if I ran on back to the office and then you two could visit. Oh, no, Susan, I'd like for you to be here. I may need your moral support. Oh, Andy, you know that your father doesn't need any help from me to say yes or no. I'll stay, Susan. I guess this won't take too long, will it, son? Oh, no, sir. No, it won't take long at all. Dad, in just a couple of months, I'll be graduating. I know, Andy. Well, you haven't talked much about what happens after that, but I'm going to have to look for some kind of a job. That's right. I don't know whether I've said much about it, but in the last year or so, I've gotten pretty interested in journalism. Well, I didn't know that, Andy. Yeah, the courses and the practical work that I've done in that field have appealed to me more than anything else. That's a good field. Man's on his own in newspaper work. You stand to have fallen what you do, nobody else. Well, getting a job on one of the big New York dailies isn't easy anymore. And even if you do, Lam, one chance is all you'll be buried for years. Writing obituaries and birth notices. Yeah, yeah. Well, Dave Toliver, the guy I've talked about so much, he's got the newspaper bug, too. Well, I like Dave. Seems like a steady, reliable sort. Yeah, well, we've been figuring, and we think that the smart thing to do, instead of losing ourselves on some big paper here in New York or in Boston, is to buy our own. Buy your own paper? But you've got to admit, they're ambitious, Jim. What do you mean, Andy? Well, the real money in newspapers these days is in the small country weeklies. So Dave and I have been scouting around, and we think we found a terrific buy in a little paper in Rockville, Connecticut. Rockville? Why, I've been there. It's not far from the New York line, is it? Well, less than 12 miles. It couldn't be more than 25 from the large, Dad. The paper's not much now, but Dave and I could really do a job on it. And you want to buy this paper? Yeah. We talked to the man who wants it. His health is bad. He said he'd sell it to us for $10,000. Well, that's a pretty good price, isn't it? Well, it's a very good price. He's got a lot of new equipment. $10,000 is a lot of money, Andy. How do you and Dave plan to finance this enterprise? Well, Dave already has his money. He came into a little money of his own when he was 21. Now, I have to raise $5,000 for my share. That's why I had to see you, Dad. You want $5,000? I thought you could loan it to me. I'll pay it back with interest, but I need the money right away to close the deal. I'm sorry, Andy. I can't let you have the money. Well, Dad. There's no point in arguing it. I won't change my mind. In fact, I have had that answer prepared for a long time. A long time, but you couldn't have known about it. I knew sooner or later you'd come to me with some such proposition. Well, I've talked to men who know newspapers. They say it's an excellent risk. The business risk has nothing to do with this, Andy. Well, it's not a lot of money for you. Why were these new Linux contracts? It isn't the amount of money. I could spare the $5,000. Well, I don't see that. You've got to learn, Andy, not to depend on me or anyone else. But, Jim... I've given you a good start. Twice the education I had, every advantage. But now you've got to learn something else. You've got to learn as I did that you can't depend on anyone else for anything. Oh, Dad, that's crazy, Todd. It may be crazy, but it's put me on top. Well, this doesn't have to be settled right here and now, does it? It might as well be. I could give you the money, son, and never miss it. But I wouldn't be helping you. Whether you'd admit it or not, yours start depending on me. Oh, but it's natural, Dad. I've always felt that you'd be there when I needed you. Well, it's time you stopped feeling like that. Don't count on anyone for anything. Be strong in yourself, because as sure as you depend on someone, need them. They won't be there, and you'll be left out in the cold. Jim. Jim, people are looking. Let them look. I don't care. Andy, you'll have to work this out for yourself, by yourself. And remember this. Anything I am today, I am because of what I've done. I've never asked favors from anyone. I didn't need anyone. I'm self-sufficient. Me. Just me. And I want you to be the same, son. It's the only way you can be happy. Now, come on, Susan. We better get back to the office and back to work. If we do not hear from you in the next 10 days, we must take action accordingly, yours sincerely and so forth. Well, I guess that's all we'll try for today, Susan. Well, we've made a good start, at least. Get a good rest over the weekend. I'm going to work you hard next week. You can go now. Oh, uh, call the garage and have my car sent around for me, will you? Oh, uh, going out of town, Jim? I think I'll run up to the lodge. I haven't been there in months. Well, it's still closed up, isn't it? I mean, there'll be nobody there and... That's why I'm going. But the lights and the heat and the phone, you know? There are some candles, maybe even a lamp. I'll build a fire in the fireplace. I don't need a phone. Is, uh, is Andy going with you? No, I'm going up alone. He called a little while ago. Wanted to talk to me? I think so, though he didn't say. You're on long distance at the time. I suppose you think I'm doing Andy a great injustice. That's between you and Andy. But you were a sighting with him. I could sense it. After all these years, Susan, I can tell when you're upset. After all these years. I think you and Andy are both short changing the future for the present. Perhaps you're right, Jim. At any rate, it's your decision to make, not mine. It would have been easier for me to give Andy the money. Surely you can see that. Yes, I can see that. And I wonder why you don't take the easy way. Because he's already had too much given to him. He's depended on me too long. Oh, you haven't given him more than most fathers give their sons? I've given him more than my father gave me. But your father wasn't average either. Ah, I've seen it happen too often, Susan. A father who's come up from nothing himself, indulges his son in every whim, ruins him. I swore I'd never make that mistake. But don't you think that you're making another? I knew you sided with Andy. Jim, Jim, you, you believe that every human being should be completely self-reliant. Never ever lean on anyone else? That's what I believe. And it's the one thing that's given me the success I've had, Susan. Is it, Jim? Or have you succeeded in spite of that feeling, in spite of the fact that you've cut yourself off from your fellow human beings, set yourself up as something separate and apart? Susan! I used to think that you'd get over that feeling, that you'd see that we all need each other. But you've gotten worse instead of better. Gloting over poor Lennox. I, I didn't realize that you've been standing off, analyzing me, Susan. Standing off. Oh, Jim. Jim, anyone you could have seen how much I needed you. Needed me? Chokshi, doesn't it? Self-sufficient Susan. I've never said anything before. Even though it's been a torment working with you day after day for 15 years, I knew how you felt about attachments. Are you telling me that you've felt... It doesn't matter. Today it was suddenly clear at listening to you, talking to Andy. I could see. You don't need anyone. You don't want anyone. But you say you're doing this for Andy, Jim, but actually it's you. Always and forever it's you. Susan, believe me. I had no idea. Well, you're not afraid of what might happen to Andy's self-reliance. You're afraid that you might become involved emotionally and otherwise. You talk about giving him too much, why you haven't given him anything. That's not true. He's had the best. Oh, sure. You send him away to the best schools where you wouldn't be bothered. And now you've been telling yourself that when he gets out of Yale it'll all be over. But he's fooled you, Jim. He's still making demands and you're afraid. You want to go right on breathing that rarefied air, that cozy world you've made for yourself. You can't bother coming down to earth and behaving like a human being. Have you finished, Susan? No, not quite. If you had needed me, Jim, I could have loved you more than anything in the world. But you don't need anyone. Except yourself. I think this is better be my resignation, Jim. Resignation? Susan, there's no need. There's every need. I can find another job. And you can get another secretary. One who won't make any demands. I'll phone for the car on my way out, Jim. Goodbye. Susan, in one day. Susan, all these years and I've been too busy to notice. She's right. What was it she said? Anyone but you could have seen how much I needed you. Needed me. She seemed so self-sufficient. So sure of herself. As though she needed nothing. And yet, all the time. If you had needed me, Jim, I could have loved you more than anything in the world. But you don't need anyone except yourself. She was tired, upset. Monday morning, she'll feel differently. Andy too. Perhaps I was too abrupt with him, but he's got to understand. This self-sufficiency is the most important thing I can give him. Worth more than his $5,000. That's a schoolboy's dream. You'll forget it. You say you're doing this for Andy, Jim. But actually, it's for you. Always and forever, it's for you. I'll be quiet and restful at the lodge. I can think it all through. It'll work out. I'll work it out by myself. I always do. Can I see you too? You need some gas and oil? Not now. Up the lodge earlier than usual, ain't you, Mr. You? Yes, I've been south, Owen. Miami. When I got in this morning, I had a nerves to see this part of the country again. Oh, we had bad winter up here. A lot of wind and rain and snow. They've done some damage out here, play. I'll soon know. The reason I stopped, Owen, this car hasn't had a good check-up since last summer when you tuned it. No, that's nice of you to say so. I thought you might drive me out to the lodge and help me get settled. Then bring the car back here and work on it. Pick me up, say, Tuesday morning. Well, mighty happy to do it. Always enjoy working on a big car like this one. Then hop in. I want to stop and pick up some groceries and candles. All by yourself this trip, eh, Mr. Yous? That's right, Owen. All by myself. I haven't lost my knack for building a good fire, eh, Owen? Yeah, just so. That's dandy. Need a lot of heat to take the dampers out of this place. Got some bad rough leaks here, Mr. Yous. So I noticed. Yeah, you better get them fixed. Rain and snow coming that way. You know, they rots the timbers. I'm dangerous. Well, now I'll be going along. Say, uh, see you Tuesday morning, eh? Uh, no hurry, Owen. I don't care whether I get back to New York until late Tuesday. If you need more time in the car, take it. I'll be comfortable here. Oh, you won't be disturbed, that's for sure. Well, I'll see you on a Tuesday. This log fire. I better get some more wood out of the cellar before that fire burns down too low. Mighty black down there. I better get a candle when it's right. A lot of water got in this winter. I hope my firewood isn't all soaked. Stairs are wet through. Must be a bad hole in the roof somewhere. Rotten timbers. Dangerous, Owen said. The steps rotted through. Oh, I, stupid. I should have tested those stairs. Something to my leg. Must be broken, pinned down. There's no one to hear me. I, I'm alone. That wouldn't be acting like a baby. I've been in bad spots before. And I forgot out of them by myself. Owen will be here Tuesday. Tuesday, Sunday. More nights to put in down here. No, no. If only someone would come. Only Owen. I told him not to hurry. Susan knows I'm here. She ordered the car. Susan, she wouldn't come up here after, after what was said. Or Andy, he might. Why should he? Why should anybody? They couldn't just let me die. I need help. Need help. I'm sorry, Andy. I guess I'm just not very good company. Better drop me at home. That makes two of us, Susan. I thought maybe you and I might shake the blues by driving around, but I guess it's no go. It was nice of you to try, Andy. You're thinking about dad, aren't you? I can't deny that. You know, the thing I hate most about what's happened is, is not losing the newspaper, but seeing you and dad drift apart like this. Oh, Andy, it was inevitable. I've just been refusing to face it, that's all. The quarrel yesterday put it out in the open. Dad and I don't know each other very well. I've been away so much. But I can't believe he meant all that stuff yesterday about never leaning on anyone else. I suppose it's the hurt he felt when mother died. I suppose. At any rate, he's decided that that's the life he wants, and there's no place for me in it. You know, he always went to the lodge whenever he was worried. Susan, let's go up there and talk to him. Oh, Andy, I don't think we should. He went up there to get away from us. You know, at the lodge, he seemed to look at things differently, even when I was a kid. You're clutching at straws, Andy. Well, maybe I am. But what have we got to lose? We could be there in an hour. Oh, we shouldn't, but... But we will. We're off. And I'm betting that dad'll be glad to see us. So much time wasted. My whole life. And now it's... Still not too late to turn back, Andy. No, we've come this far. We might as well see it through. Hey, that looks like dad's car over there in Owen's service station. Well, it is. I'm sure of it. Hey, I wonder what that means. Hey, Owen. Yeah. Oh, well, now say it. You, Mr. Andy, how are you? I'm fine, Owen. Fine. Say, I noticed dad's car over there. Yeah, I'm servicing it for him. I'm going to take it out to him Tuesday. He spent a few quiet days, he said. Layed in some groceries. Andy, let's go back. We'll only upset him. No, Susan, we're going on out. Dad may not need me, but I need him. And I want to see him. Thanks, Owen. Yeah, see you, Mr. Andy. I guess you're right, Andy. As long as we need Jim, that's what matters. We see the light now. Must be almost dark. Another day. And another night. My leg is numb now. Oh, pain at least. Maybe that's the way it'll be. Just a numbness. Listen, now my ears are playing tricks. Thought I heard a car stopping. That's the end. And I can't believe in what I hear. It couldn't be a car when voices. Or am I losing my mind? The door, someone's the door. Help, I'm down here. Help. They didn't hear me. They're gone away. They came in. Seller, Seller, yes, son. Stairs gave way. My leg, right leg is broken. Oh, Jim. Can you, can you help, help me, son? Just leave everything to us and don't move. We'll get you out of this, dad. Thank you, son. Thank you. Is it all right if I come in? Susan, come in, come in. I didn't know whether the patient was awake or not. The patient is awake and eager for company. I, uh, I just put Andy on the train for New Haven. He was in earlier to say goodbye. Let's sit down, Susan. Let me look at you. You're feeling better. I can tell. Oh, Jim, if, if you knew how we worried. I didn't deserve it. Jim. No, I want to say it. I feel better if you let me. Susan, darling Susan. Oh, Jim. All those hours I lay in darkness, I could only think of the years I'd wasted. Years of our lives, yours and mine. And I told myself that if I ever got out, it would be different. Dr. Rice said that in another 24 hours, he couldn't have saved you, Jim. Yes, I know. But because Andy needed me and you needed me, you were there when I needed both of you. How could I have been so blind, Susan, to overlook such an obvious pattern? Pattern? The thing you tried to show me the day we quarreled. The common need of all of us for one another. All my life, I've tried to shut my eyes to that. But your eyes are open now. Thanks to the love that you and Andy had for me. But Susan, I, I still need you after this. More than ever. You know that, don't you? I know that, Jim. And I'll be there as long as you need me. I promise. Thank you, Gene Cagney and Carlton Young, for your fine performances. You know, there's an old saying that we've all heard. John Donn said it a long time ago. No man is an island unto himself. Or put another way, no one can live in a vacuum. We depend on one another. Much as we strive for independence and even pride ourselves on it, it only takes a little sorrow, a little pain, a little poverty, a little fear to make us realize how much we need the help of others. And if we depend on our neighbor for support, how much more should we look to our maker on whom all of us depend? We need God's help every minute of the day. And if we're wise, we'll acknowledge that help by praying to Him daily with our families for the help our families need. We won't wait for sickness or sorrow to strike us to our knees. We'll make family prayer a normal, natural part of our daily lives. Because we know and believe that the family that prays together stays together. More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. Tonight's Family Theater has brought to Gene Cagney and Carlton Young in The Hidden Heart with Lloyd Nolan as your host. The story was written for Family Theater by John McGreevy with music by Harry Zimmerman and was directed by Jaime Delvalle. Andy Hughes was played by Charles Russell with Dick Ryan as Owen the service man. This series of Family Theater broadcasts is made possible by the thousands of you who felt a need for this type of program and by the mutual network which has responded to this need. This is Gene Baker inviting you to be with us next week at the same time when Jack Benny will introduce Mark Stevens in The Hound of Heaven. Join us won't you? Next over most of these stations you'll hear pretested comedy as the Gold Coast players present the Divine Flora on the Comedy Playhouse. For a half hour of laughter stay tuned for Comedy Playhouse over most of these stations. This is the Mutual Broadcasting System.