 Family Theater presents Ruth Hussie and Ray Bolger. From Hollywood, the mutual network in cooperation with Family Theater presents, All Brides Are Beautiful, starring Ruth Hussie. And now here is your host, Ray Bolger. 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, All Brides Are Beautiful, starring Ruth Hussie as Lucy. Hello, whatever's the matter? Hello, Aunt Lucy. I know I shouldn't burst in on you like this, but you're the only one that I could talk to. You always seem to understand. Is it Bob? He's thrown me over for Sharon. They're going to be married right away. He told you so himself? He wrote me a letter. Oh, why couldn't I have been beautiful like Sharon? I don't blame Bob. What chance is a girl like me of happiness? A better chance maybe than the Sharon's. Now you're talking like mother. Somehow, Aunt Lucy, I never expected it of you. Didn't you? Sit down, Gaila. It may help you to hear about another letter, a letter I once received. A letter like Bob's? Well, no, Gaila. Quite another kind of letter. It's a letter that came to me when I was so about your age. Some of the events leading up to it you may already know. My coming to the city, for instance, and the reason I came. But let's begin with my experience one day at an employment office. Your references are excellent, Miss Palmer. None better, but of course. I know, my appearance. But there must be some employer to whom it won't be such a final disqualification. My dear, there's no exaggerating the factor of personal appearance. That's the first thing one learns in running an employment agency. Shall I be brutally frank with you? People usually are. Then take my advice and go back to the small town you came from. Back to the employer who recommends you so highly. I'll find a job here somehow. But even if you do, eventually, will it have been worth it? Is it so necessary that you stay in New York? You ask me that when you can't even keep your eyes on my face. Oh, Miss Palmer. Oh, I don't blame you. I don't blame anyone. Sometimes I find my own eyes avoiding a mirror. And I've had a long time to get used to myself, a long, long time. Would you mind telling me how it happened, mine? A little girl is playing in a hay loft and she falls. Her head strikes against a wagon wheel or her chin is crushed. It must have been ghastly. They were afraid I wouldn't live. Oh, now come. You mustn't feel that way. Mustn't I? All these years I've been able to bear it because of one hope, plastic surgery. Then it's possible? It must be. Oh, you haven't been to see a plastic surgeon yet. The job comes first. Then when I can afford it, Miss Dana, there's something I haven't told you. This isn't the first employment agency I've tried. I guessed as much. Well, I always was a softie. I'll do all I can. Miss Dana kept her word. She did all she could. All anyone could for a job applicant like Lucy Palmer. I got so I had to force myself to go out on the interviews, force myself to come back again and see the eye told you so in Miss Dana's eyes. Sometimes I even felt sorry for the employers who went through the formality of interviewing me. There was a cruelty in their very kindness, and they sensed it. Oh, sit down, Lucy. No, Miss Dana. This time I've merely come back to say goodbye. And thanks. I'm sorry, Lucy. If I could hold out even a ray of hope. I know. I've already bought my train ticket. I'll be running along. No, wait. Dana Employment Agency. Hello, Miss Dana. This is Ralph Colton again. Now, don't tell me. Same old story. Cupid Colton, they ought to call me. Every time I hire a secretary, some poor simpleton decides to marry her. You do have a rather remarkable record. Miss Dana, this time will you give me a break? Send me a man-hater or at the very least some girl who will solemnly swear to avoid matrimony for a year or two. Well, oh, Mr. Colton. You sound like you just had an inspiration. I have. Listen, I know just the girl for you. She's, well, I'll send her over. You do that, and right away. Lucy, Lucy, I want you to hurry over to the law office of Ralph Colton. It's only a few blocks away. Here, I'll write down the address. Why bother? Oh, but my dear, I know you'll get the job. Not when he sees what I look like. You don't understand, Lucy. Ralph Colton is blind. I could hardly keep from running all the way. People turned to stare until I realized that in my excitement I'd forgotten to turn up my coat collar. But one doesn't enter an office with a face hidden by a coat collar, so the girl looked at me unbelievably when I told her what I'd come for. It was an incredible relief to be alone at last with Mr. Colton. Well, Miss Palmer, I have only one more question. How soon can you start? Well, this very minute. You know all the right answers, Miss Palmer. I'm anxious to have the other girls start showing you around immediately so that by the time she leaves, you'll know that. Mr. Colton. Yes? I want the job very much. But before you make up your mind, definitely, there's something you should know. No. I, my face, I had an accident when I was a child. Miss Palmer, I know how you must feel. I've been handicapped since childhood myself, you know. I went blind when I was eight. Now then, if you would just tell Miss Wheeling that. Well, Mr. Colton, I'm afraid you still don't understand. The truth is that no one else would hire me. I know you'll make a perfect secretary. But it doesn't seem fair. You're sure you don't mind that my face is. Miss Palmer, you have a lovely voice, a very lovely voice. It was weeks before I even unpacked my trunk. The trunk, somehow, was a symbol of permanency, and this couldn't last. Even when it did, even when the weeks had flown smoothly, serenely, securely into months, even when the trunk was finally unpacked, I found myself unaccountably putting off the very thing for which I'd waited a whole lifetime, the visit to a plastic surgeon. I tilt the chin a little more. That's better. You've been dreading this examination, Miss Palmer. Oh, what makes you say that, Doctor? Steady now. Yeah, I mean, you've canceled your appointment twice, I'm told. Oh, well, that was because things came up. Yes, they invariably do. Now the left side, please. Doctor, I don't ask you to make me beautiful. Just so when people look at me. Yes, yes, yes, of course. Yeah, no further need for this glaring lamp. Now I am not going to tell you to relax, Miss Palmer, because I know that would be utterly impossible. Neither can I dismiss all your doubts and fears with that magic word yes. Well, then it's no. No, no, not quite that simple, either. You see, Miss Palmer, the surgery necessary in your case will involve a certain degree of danger. Oh, what kind of danger? Of having the facial nerve injured. The consequence would be complete paralysis of the affected side. Oh. The operation, if it's entirely successful, I can promise you a normal face, a beautiful face even. But if not, the decision is entirely yours. A short time ago I wouldn't have hesitated. And now? Now I've found a place for myself, a place where I'm wanted, even needed. Well, thank you, doctor, but I'm afraid my answer is no. In the days that followed, I tried to dismiss the whole matter from my mind, as well as tried to dismiss what confronted me in the mirror. But I didn't realize that anyone else was aware of my inner turmoil. Miss Palmer, has something gone wrong? Why do you ask that, Mr. Colton? Well, it's not that I want a medal, but will you seem so upset lately? I hope it's nothing really serious. Oh, not as serious as it once seemed. Nothing I may have said or done. Oh, no. You've been very kind. I can't tell you how grateful I am. Well, it's nice of you to say that. For my own part, I want to say, well, how much I've come to depend on you. But I haven't told you the news, have I? Good news? The best. My kid brother, Chester, has just been admitted to the bar. And I'm expecting him this afternoon from upstate. From now on, this firm will be Colton and Colton. Oh. You like you, Miss Palmer. Everybody does. He is one of the. Yes, who's that? Pardon the intrusion, sir. But could I possibly interest you in a new law partner? You're looking great, Ralph. Is it prosperity? Or maybe a touch of romance, huh? You know, I've always said you ought to appropriate a wife. Miss Palmer, this is the scallow egg. It's telling you about it. How do you? How do you do? How do you do, Mr. Colton? If you'll excuse me now. No, no, don't go on my account. I was just leaving. Chet, you just. Somebody I promised to look up as soon as I got in. Same old Chet. The new member of the law firm of Colton and Colton treated me most of the time as though I were invisible. Or at most a pair of hands that took his dictation typed his legal briefs. It was less than a month before I discovered quite by accident how thoroughly justified I was in giving way to a mounting sense of misgiving. Ralph, it isn't good business. That face of yours. Chet. Is that you, Miss Palmer? Oh, it isn't important. Just that bill of particulars to be signed later, perhaps. No, no. Let me have it now, please. Very well. Your pin. Oh, and the line for your signature is here. Thank you. Lucy, Lucy, I'm terribly sorry. About what? I'm the one who should apologize. And I do, Miss Palmer. It was rotten to have it happen that way. Well, did something happen? Well, now, Lucy, it's no use. You couldn't have helped hearing what you were saying. Oh, before I forget, may I leave early this afternoon? There's something I should attend to as soon as possible. The wind blew fresh and free on my face as I hurried on my mission. That face, Chester Colton had called it. I'd overheard worse things before, but never with such impact. It was with collar turned down and with relentless steps that I headed for the office of Dr. Albert Lauerman, plastic surgeon. So you've reconsidered it, eh? Yes. Eh, now, Miss Palmer, I neglected to tell you the last time that there would be pain, agony, lots of it. I expected there would be. Now, this is not one of those anesthetic operations you can sleep through. Even if everything works out perfectly, there'll be weeks, yes. Yes, weeks when you'll have to lie with your arms strapped to your chin. Oh? Yes, you see, we have to graft a skin flap from your arm. First of all, we'll have to remove sufficient gristle from the ribs to build up the chin. Not many of us could go through the ordeal you'd be in for. Please, doctor. And I wouldn't blame you, Miss Palmer, if you were to change your mind again. There's one thing you haven't told me yet. When can you operate? The next two weeks were the longest I'd ever endured, for it was two weeks until the operations. Luckily, there was the task of finding a girl to fill in for me at Colton and Colton and breaking her in. All the while, Chester Colton behaved rather guiltily toward me. And Ralph was more considerate than ever. So tomorrow's the day, Lucy, huh? Yes. I will miss you a lot. Oh, it's very kind of you to say so. You don't know what it's meant to me to. Well, but the new girl's caught on remarkably well. And by the time I come back, you'll probably prefer her. No, I hardly. Lucy, must you submit to this operation? Well, that's a strange question, Mr. Colton. Lucy, I've had a talk with a doctor. I shouldn't have. I know I'm only your employer, and I have no business interfering in your personal affairs. But well, I wanted to be sure everything was going to be all right. Well, I appreciate it. And Dr. Larmond says there's a risk, Lucy, a big risk. So don't go through with it. It isn't worth it. Well, it is to me. No, now listen to me, Lucy. I know how you feel, but well, maybe it would make a difference. Maybe you'd change your mind if you knew. Nothing could make me change my mind. Nothing. A beautiful spring morning smiled in through the tall windows at the end of the hospital corridor as they wheeled me into the operating room. Just such a morning, it seemed to me, was that spring day when the little girl had played in the hail off to her father's barn. And then came the pain, the bottomless vortex of pain, just as when the little girl had gone hurtling down, down, down, and crushed her chin, and her hopes, and her happiness against the brutal, biting rim of the wagon wheel. You lie with your arms strapped to your chin, and time grinds to a throbbing halt. And only one thing matters anymore, to be able to tear that arm away, to flex it, to fling it back and forth, back and forth until the agonizing ache is gone, until a delicious nothingness is settled mercifully over the bound, bandaged heap, which is Lucy Palmer, which is you. I thought this moment would never come, the moment of my unveiling. They mustn't give way now, Miss Palmer, not when we've reached the end of the trail. The end of the trail, maybe. Oh, Lucy. Oh, I'm sorry. I just, nerves. Maybe Ralph and I shouldn't be here, especially me. It was my idea, but Lucy, if you'd rather that you. Oh, no, no. I'm glad. And I never thank the firm of Colton and Colton for converting my hospital room into a flower garden. You've no idea what they've meant to me. Well, steady now, Miss Palmer, while I snip off these bandages. Yeah. Doctor? And nurse, bring Miss Palmer a hand mirror. Chat, tell me, tell me. She's beautiful. Yes, the plastic surgery was a great success. People no longer looked away from me in embarrassment. Now, unbelievably, they turned to admire Lucy Palmer as she walked down the street or sat in the restaurant or entered the elevator or rode the bus. Yes, I was beautiful. And the world was beautiful, incredibly unendingly beautiful. Well, that'll be all, Lucy. And don't hurry getting those letters out. Well, in that case, Mr. Colton. Well, not just a minute. Lucy, there are two, Mr. Colton's. And it makes things awfully confusing. And frigid and formal. Not to say downright unfriendly. So, well, it is therefore the verdict of this court that the defendant, Lucy Palmer, shall hereafter refer to the measures, Colton, by their personal appellations to Witt, Chet, and Ralph. Step down. What I was about to say, Chet and Ralph, was that I feel guilty asking you to let me off early again today. But the doctor insists that I come in regularly for an examination. Sure. So you go right ahead. As a matter of fact, Lucy, I was just driving over that way. I'll drop you off. Would you? Well, I'll get my hat and coat. Chet, weren't you going in the opposite direction toward the courthouse? Was I? Well, Lucy, let me help you with your coat. What? My dear, you mustn't feel so self-conscious about being seen admiring yourself in a mirror. If I had a lovely face like yours, I'd always have a mirror within view. You always know just the right thing to say. No, not always. Bye, Ralph. Bye. You know, Lucy, I've been wanting a chance to apologize for the time I said the wrong thing and hurt you so deeply. Well, if you hadn't, I'd still be that other girl. Then you do forgive me. Forgive isn't the word. I'm positively grateful. Gratitude is such a wonderful thing. Maybe it could induce you to have dinner with me some evening. Oh, but Mr. Colton. You're forgetting yourself, Chet. And how about this evening? Well, what would people say, Chet, seeing me out with one of my employers? They'd probably say, lady of the dimple chin, that one of your employers had finally come to his senses. I did have dinner with Chet that evening. Such a nice dinner. Such a nice evening. Soon we were together again almost every evening. It was a part of living that I'd never even glimpsed and how I gloried in it. And yet all the while I kept telling myself that it couldn't last. I have an extra special reason for wanting to sit out this dance, Lucy. For once you sound serious. For once I am. Lucy, I suppose everyone has warned you about my romantic past. Everyone. As he accused, I have a right to know just what they've said. That you could never resist a pretty face, except that it's always a different one. Well, they're wrong. I was just searching until I found the right one. And I have. So we go in now? You've got to believe me, Lucy. I never meant anything more in my life. Well, maybe you haven't, but you will. I'm going in. Lucy. Please, Chet. Say you love me. Say you'll be my wife. Beautiful, Lucy. Well, I can't say the news is wholly unexpected. I guess you both know you're my two favorite people, so all the happiness in the world to you. Thanks, Ralph. Well, you've been so wonderful to me from the very first, Ralph. I'm going to prize having you for a brother-in-law. Hey, that reminds me, I'd better call up Miss Dana and tell her that old Cupid Colton has done it again. Well, by the way, will the wedding be soon? No. Lucy is holding out for a long engagement, a whole month. There was only one thing tomorrow, the happiness of that month of trusso buying and honeymoon planning. Something was wrong with Ralph. Ralph had always been the picture of health and vitality. Chet insisted on his having a physical check-up. And though the doctor said it didn't seem to be anything serious, I began to worry, confused kind of worry. I'd wake up at night with a feeling that something terrible was going to happen. The night before the wedding, I awoke with a feeling that it had happened. Whatever it was I'd been dreading. And suddenly I knew what it was. I jumped out of bed and snapped on the light, ran to the mirror. Well, you said yourself, doctor, that the danger was past. And now look at me. This was to have been my wedding day. Mm, yeah. I wonder. Wonder what? Now, Miss Palmer, you're suffering from paralysis or the facial nerve. That's true. The drooping lower lid in the mouth, the contorted face that weeps only on one side. There's no mistaking the symptoms, but the cause need not have been physical. Oh, don't talk in riddles. Well, you see, the brain, Miss Palmer, is the greatest riddle of all. Now, unconsciously, without in the least suspecting it, you may have willed this very calamity upon yourself in order to find escape of some sort. Well, go on, doctor. Now, just ask yourself, is this connected somehow with what was to have happened today? Is this connected somehow with the wedding and Chester Colton? Oh, I don't know. I don't know. Well, I didn't seem to have a worry in the world, except Ralph. What's that? Chet's brother, Ralph. He hasn't been feeling too well lately. Ralph Colton? Wait a minute. What are you doing, doctor? Ralph Colton came to see me before your operation. He entrusted me with this letter. For me? Yes, yes. I was to give it to you only if the operation did not succeed. But now it hasn't. And since I neglected to destroy it, I feel perfectly justified in giving it to you now. A letter from Ralph? Go on, Miss Palmer. Read it. Maybe it can throw light on our riddle. My dear, it may be some slight consolation to you in this bitter hour of disappointment to know that no surgery of man, no miracle of God, could make you more beautiful than you've always been to me. I love you, Lucy. And while I grieve over your heartbreak, it gives me courage now to ask something which I could not otherwise have dared to dream. Darling, will you be my wife? Well, Gala, now you know about the letter I once received. Yes, Aunt Lucy. And now I think I understand what you meant. You meant that Bob couldn't really have been in love with me, not if I lost him to Sharon just because she was beautiful. I suppose that someday I may even be thankful about my letter. I'm sure you will. You and Uncle Ralph are the happiest couple I know. And to think that if it hadn't been for that facial paralysis, there's no sign of it now. And never has been as far back as I can remember. That's right, Gala. Every trace had disappeared by the day of our wedding. But then as Ralph has always said, all brides are beautiful. This is Ray Boulder again. You know, if there really were a part at the foot of the rainbow containing the greatest treasure in the world, do you know what that treasure would be? Happiness. Yes, happiness, the most priceless possession there is. I think if you get right down to it, every one of us agree that happiness is the one thing we really want. Lots of times we get a little sidetracked, thinking that a new job, a new car, more money will bring us happiness. But deep in our hearts, we know it won't. Because real happiness has nothing to do with wealth or material things. Happiness is a quality that comes from love, unselfish love, love of God, love of our own husbands and wives, our children, our families. And the road to happiness isn't a rainbow. It's a difficult path where we have to keep climbing, pulling, working all the time. But one thing that smooths the path is prayer, family prayer. Try it and you'll see. Ask God sincerely and with complete faith in his understanding for his help. So pray. Pray together as a family every night for a family that prays together, stays together. More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. From Hollywood, family theater has brought you transcribed. All brides are beautiful, starring Ruth Hussie. Ray Bolger was your host. Others in our cast were Stacey Harris, Gloria Grant, Sam Edwards, Gail Bonney, and Leo Curley. The script was written by Maurice Zim and directed for Family Theater by John T. Kelly with music composed and conducted by George Wright. 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 Lofrano expressing the wish of Family Theater that the blessing of God may be upon you and your home and inviting you to join us next week when Family Theater will present lines of probability, starring Victor Jory. Jimmy Durante will be your host. Join us, won't you? Family Theater is broadcast throughout the world and originates in the Hollywood studios of the world's largest network. This is Mutual, the radio network for all America.