 Family Theatre presents Deborah Padgett and Stephen Dunn. Cooperation with Family Theatre presents Stephen Dunn in the clown. To introduce the drama, your hostess, Deborah Padgett. Family Theatre'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 Theatre urges you to pray. Pray together as a family. Tonight Family Theatre takes great pleasure in presenting an original story based on the life of Dan Rice, the clown starring Stephen Dunn. Does the tale of a comic know its own star? Sure I knew him. Dan Rice, the greatest clown that ever lived. I followed him on the way up. And I followed him on the way down. Me, Cappy Flynn. The kids, when we met, Dan was only eight. Just run away from home. I was 12, jockeying for Colonel Stanton. Dan loved horses. He started in as a stable boy, and within a year was the country's ace jockey. Yeah, that's how our friendship started, and it grew through the years. Good years and bad ones. Till a dry spell when we were both working for beans in a little traveling carnival. Hurry, hurry! Horsy language, of course. And as for his Terpsichorean skill, well, ladies and gentlemen, just see for yourselves. That's right, bacon. Heroette! Balance! Who is that man? Looks like he swallowed a dictionary. Oh, him? That's Dan Rice. Dan Rice, he can do just about anything. Sing, dance, recite Shakespeare like a play actor. But don't play cars with him. He's a handsome one. He's a big and strong one. Let's see the rest of the freaks. That snake charmer looks good to me. And now to see bacon perform the rest of his amazing tricks. Step right this way and buy it. It's right. This mighty putt. So step right up and buy it. To see this gorgeous girl. Folks, don't crowd. All right, Stella, that's enough. Get inside. That's right, good people. Step right up. Oh, you boy, out of the way so that gentleman can buy a ticket. Sorry, friend, no free list on this show. Are you the owner of this carnival? Yeah. Where's your permit? Yes, just a little piece of paper that says you can run a show like this in this town. I've had some complaints on this carnival, Mr. and I'm going to run you all in and confiscate your wagons. Oh, yeah, we'll see about that. I'm up and spin and the sheriff has to put in an appearance. But we got away, Stella. That's the important thing. I don't see what's so funny, Dan. The irony of life, my dear. The irony of life. Irony? As defined by Mr. Webster as state of affairs or events which is the reverse of what was or was to be expected. A result opposite to and as if in mockery of the promised or appropriate result. As the irony of fate. Well, that happened to us. Oh, you're awful smart, Dan. Because I quote the dictionary. My dear Stella, to anyone who was weaned on Shakespeare, Daniel Webster is kinder guy. I don't know what you're talking about, but I still think you're smart. You would have made a wonderful actor, Dan. You think I'm not? What is carnival but acting? Selling people what they don't need or want. For that matter, what's life but acting? Like, Dan, what's wrong? Oh, I was just thinking. There must be more to life than a carnival wagon one night stands. Faceless crowds. Roads and no wings. You're a strange one. You can't be and run out of town. Actin' again, Stella. One must act or go mad. We live not as we like, but as we must. Dan, we... Yes? We got each other. Dan, you do love me. Of course. And you're not acting when you say it. Oh, boy. How could I be anything but sincere in loving you, Stella? You don't know how the whole world's changed for me since you joined up with the carnival. Before you came, one day was like another. No one town, no one friend. Just a livin'. As phony as the carnifreaks. And then you came along. No one use changed everything for me, Dan. Even this carnival wagon's beautiful now. It's like bein' a gypsy. Rumblin' along under the stars. Jay, Stella, you're wonderful. And I have plans too, big plans. I'll do great things someday. Stella, how would you like to do an act with me? Me? In an act with you? Or Dan, it would be heaven. You could background me. Dressed to kill. I'll sing, dance, clown. We'll play all over America. Or Dan, it's almost too good to be true. We'll be headliners, Stella. Dan, rice and company. I'd dress you in red. I'll need at least six changes. And we could have a little home someplace to go to between seasons. You stand around and look beautiful in the hypnotist act. I'll be all in black, tails, top hat, cape, all the rest of it. Yes, sir, there are great days ahead for us, Stella. And then I'll end up the act as a Dixieland minstrel man in blackface, of course. And I'll make him laugh and I'll make him weep. It'll bring down a house. Oh, Dan, it'll be wonderful. Wonderful? Yeah, you had to think about it. You did. Right now, we're just working in a carnival. Great days are still a long way off. Maybe never. Our day is right now, Dan. We've got each other. We're cozy and warm in here. We had bad luck in the last town. Sure, but there's always another town tomorrow. Another chance. Tomorrow, it's sure to be good. So come on, Dan, smile. Sure, Stella. Tomorrow will be a great day. Oh, Dan, I love you so much. That's the way Dan planned things, but fate had another card up its sleeve for him and dealt it in the next town we stopped in. It happened first thing in the morning. Dan and me were feeding bacon. Stella was standing by laughing. I agree with bacon in this, Berg. He seems extra hungry. Nothing but the best for those we cherish, eh, bacon? He gets the best, all right. That pig eats better than I do. When you can dance as well as bacon, you may eat as well, Cappy. I doubt that very much. Hey, hey, hey, we got a visitor. I think I'd better get Tom. No, no, let's wait and see what he has to say. Hey, that's quite a pig you got there. Yeah, we think so. I caught your show last night, Rice. You look pretty good. Well, thank you. You don't need that pig, you know. I beg pardon? I say you don't need that pig or any other trick prop. Given the right chance, you'd make a great single act. Dan, tell him about it. Wait, Stella, just what do you have in mind, sir? Spawning. Hey, that's big time. Big enough. Is that just a notion of yours, Mr. Morley, Joe Morley, here's my card. So, you scout for spawning? Oh, Dan, how wonderful. Didn't I tell you? I'll be honest with you, Rice. We need top performers. Barnum's eaten into our talent, and we want to develop new stars. I think you'll be one of them. Just what would I have to do? Clown, as I said, and double as a strongman, singer, dancer, driver, black face, 23 men after the show. Pay us $15 a month in cakes until we see how far you'll go. Oh, Dan, we could do fine on that. This is your big chance. Just wait a minute, lady. I'm only interested in Dan Rice as a single. Dan? Well, this is my big chance, Stella. When would I have to leave? Right away. The circus opens in two weeks in St. Louis. Well, I just can't walk out. I'll tell the boss and do the night show. It's understood. You'll pay your passage to join up with us. Well, that's no problem. I made my living once on the river boats. Guess I can do it again. I'll meet you in St. Louis within the week, Mr. Morley. You won't regret it, Dan. See you in St. Louis. Travelers' hotel. The big time. Well, Bacon, I... I guess you're through. Come on, now. I'll give you your bath now. Stella. So, we were going to be together. Always. But we shall, Stella. Don't you understand? I'm only taking this until I become known. Then I'll send for you and we'll go on together. Why? Why, you even predicted this, dear. Don't you remember? You said tomorrow would be good. Yeah. Now that tomorrow's come, it don't look so good to me. Stella. Stella, you want me to take advantage of this offer, don't you? Why? I... Sure, Dan. All I've ever wanted is what's good for you. But I sort of hoped I could kind of tag along. Well, haven't I just said I'd send for you as soon as I could? This is our big chance. $15 a month in cakes without Stella, without the pay. That's another thing to guarantee me sending for you, Stella. I'll give Bacon to you. He's valuable. You can keep him for Cappy and me. Cappy and you? Yeah. You're taking Cappy and leaving me? Well, I... Well, with all those changes, I need a dresser, don't I? He's somebody to help. And you make a fortune with Bacon. Dan, all I want is you. Stella, I have to go where I feel I must. All right, Dan. It's all right. I'll send for you. Yeah. You send for me when you need me, Dan. So Dan left, Stella, in the carnival. We took passage on a riverboat. The River Queen, she was called. She was mighty good at Dan because the first thing you know, he got real chummy with the captain. And we had us a card game. Gentlemen, what's your pleasure? Uh, two cards for me, Dan. All right. There you are. Captain? I'll take one. One. Dealers stand, Pat. Bets 500. 500? That freezes me out. Captain? Will you already hold my IOUs, Mr. Rice? You've cleaned me out. But I sure would like to bet on this hand. Well, sir, I never like to let a few IOUs stand in the way of a good hand. Tell you what, Captain. What about putting up the River Queen? Marble? I'm willing to gamble your debt to me and what's already on the table against your Queen. Done. All right, what have you got? Straight flush. Parks, King High. Well, what's the matter, Captain? Straight flush. And spades. Jack high. Too bad, sir. But have no fear. I'll take good care of the River Queen. Yes, sir. Excuse me now, sir. Dan, what'd you go and do that for? Do what, Capy? Go and win the River Queen. We need money, not a boat. You're always winning the wrong things. I always wanted to be captain of a riverboat, Capy. All right, Mr. Rice, you've got a riverboat. Now what are you going to do with it? Use the captain's cabin as a gambling salon till we dock in St. Louis. Then I'll give the Queen back to her master. After all, Capy, we got to make a good stake to afford to work for Spalding Circus. And that's the way Dan started in the big time. I was hard at first, plenty hard, just like Joe Morley had said. Dan had to drive wagons. Dan had to sing. Dan had to dance. Dan was the strongman act. But in all the hard work, Dan learned and studied new tricks. He bought himself a white horse, called him Excelsior. And wearing Uncle Sam's chin whiskers in a dress suit, he became a star clown overnight. See, he reels into the ring in his very rumpel, but very elegant even clothes, pretending to be drunks, see? But there's something about Dan that always gets an audience right till a minute he appears. They gasp as he makes a flying leap for Excelsior's back and misses it a mile. He tries again and they scream as he misses it again. And he tries again and stays on the horse's back. And he teeters from main to tail, trying to keep his balance. See? And then Dan throws all foolin' aside and performs like the great star he is. And the audience goes wild. Then comes the war between the states. Civil war. Sad days. Sad days. But Dan Rice was still welcomed by both the North and the South. He had his own show by this time. I call him the King of Clowns. He talked to men like General Grant, General Lee, even men like President Lincoln. Hello, Dan. It's good to see you again. Mr. President, it's an honor to be here. Sit down, sit down. Thank you. You must be tired these days. Not half as tired as you, sir. Let's forget about me. Forget formality. Let's even forget the war for a little while. Dan, give me something to laugh at. How about a minstrel joke, Mr. President? Good, good. Well, that seems like Sambo had been ailing lately. So his friend says, Sambo, I hear you've been havin' a misery. Sambo says, That's right. I ain't been eatin' like I oughta. Did you go see a doctor? Sure I went to see a doctor. Fine doctor. He gave me some whiskey and little pink pills. He ain't told me to take one of them pills with some whiskey three times a day. Not like mine at Good Medicine, Sambo. Would you follow the doctor's orders to the letter? I sure have. Only one thing bothers me. I was about three weeks ahead on the whiskey and six months behind on the pills. You're better than any medicine, Dan. Even Sambo's. I only wish I could do more, sir. And I wish. I wish I could change places with you if only for an hour. You? You want to be a clown? Not just any clown, but Dan Rice. Welcome to everywhere. North or south. Just one hour to be loved. Understood by everyone. So they love you, Dan. This war could end in that hour. Really end. It'll come, Mr. President. Richmond has fallen, Lee surrendered. The Confederates will cool off in time, you see. And you'll be the best love of all the Presidents. I had a dream, Dan. A warning. I won't live to see the surrender of the rest of the Confederate states. President Lincoln. Now, I'm sure you're joking, sir. Think so? I'd like to forget that premonition, Dan. That's why I was extra glad to see you today. That's why I'm going to the theater tonight. Theater, Mr. President? Laura Keane is playing our American cousin. Who knows, Dan? Maybe I'll find a solution to my problems at Ford's Theater. Extra, extra! President Lincoln shot it for a theater! We got a money! Booth's bullet might just as well have struck Dan, too, and the weeks had followed. I didn't think or talk about anything, but what President Lincoln had wanted so bad. So, Dan went up and down the states. He talked to everybody, Northerners, Southerners, gave all his salary to help, and he was earning $1,000 a week. And finally, one hot night after the show. Cappy, I'm changing our schedule. We're playing next in Philadelphia. Oh, but Dan, we got our paper up in New York. We're going to Philadelphia, Cappy, because the Republican Convention is opening there next week. Dan, it's the best reason I know of to stay away from Philly. How do you expect to get good circus houses with a convention in town? Cappy, I talked with the President just before he died. Since then, I've talked to a great many more people in the South and here in the North. And I know that our country needs help as she's never needed it before. Rumor and discord everywhere. Right now, America needs nonpartisan leadership. Men who can see both sides of the question keep a cool head. I don't think either Grant or Greeley are those men. Huh? Dan, do you mean... I mean we're going to Philadelphia, Cappy, and the Republican Convention. Hey, Drew, please. Pardon me, sir. May I get by, sir? Huh? Thank you. Uh-oh. Why, it's the clown. Dan Rice, hey, let him through. Hey, and Rice himself, come to the convention. Hey, that's right. You're right up on the platform. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. No need to introduce you with or without your makeup. Everybody knows the great Dan Rice. So, Lord is yours. Thank you. Thank you. Please. Please hear me, my friends. Please. Thank you. Thank you for your warm welcome. But I haven't come here as a clown to entertain you, my friends. But rather as an emissary. I've made it my business to travel all over America recently to look behind the scenes in the north and in the south. I've heard bitter words, seen much hatred. But gentlemen, our country is still our country. We're all brothers, members of one great, magnificent family. The civil war has ended. Who is the winner? Who is the loser? What good are the fruits of victory of bitter? There is no room for hate or revenge in this election. And with that in mind, and because of my experience, I... I offer myself as a candidate for the presidency of the United States. Yeah! Oh, a joke. One time I was serious. And they laughed. They laughed, Mr. Lincoln. Dan's greatest audience broke his heart. He wouldn't talk to me that night when he came back from the convention. He'd talk about his joke in the morning papers. The thing that made it worse for Dan was that he was more popular than ever. People flocked to see him, but for the first time in his life, Dan hated his audience. So to hide this, he did two things. Two more firsts for Dan Rice. He wore a painted smile in his clown act. And he kept a new prop behind scenes. Whiskey bottle. Things got worse and worse, and when I saw he was killing himself, I went for the only help I knew. Come back just before the matinee. Where's the drink? I can't get this confounded smile on the street, Dan. There's... There's somebody here to see you, Dan. See me? Who is this vice president or just the secretary of state? This smile always gives me trouble. Maybe I can't get it. Maybe... Maybe I can help you, Dan. Who's that? I'm pretty good at painting on a smile. Hold still now. Who are you? Have I changed that much? James, do you look familiar? It's alright, Dan. It's alright. See? You're smiling just fine now. Why'd you come here? Didn't I hurt you enough once? Dan... Maybe that's why you came to see me bleed. Great joke, eh? Dan Rice. A clown who wanted to be president. Well, I came because I never stopped loving you, Dan. I read all about you. Followed you every step of the way up. Oh, it's been wonderful. Dan Rice, the greatest clown in the world. The greatest... Stella. What, Dan? You're right. I can't help but clowning. President Lincoln himself wished he could change places with him. What, Dan? The universal language of laughter. Make him laugh again. Oh, Stella, Stella. It's true. I'd rather be clown president. You know, we bring you this program each week of encouraging and promoting prayer throughout the world. We stress family prayer particularly, for the family is the firm stone upon which a nation is built. In these days, when the nations of the world are in a topsy-turvy state, prayer is more important than ever before. I'd like to read you a poem that appeared recently in one of our daily newspapers. We all have a secret weapon which can cure our deepest woes. It can tear down walls of hatred and confound our godless foes. It doesn't cost a billion dollars, yet can guarantee world peace at the A-bomb or the H-bomb, yet it makes the wardrobe cease. It's not guarded from the millions. Each of us can do our share. It grows stronger as you use it, for it's better known as prayer. Yes, prayer is the secret weapon which we all possess, and if we but use it, we can bring peace to the world, peace to the nation, and peace to our homes, for the family that prays together stays together. More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. Herb Lytton and Hal Arona. The script was written by Virginia M. Cook with music composed and conducted by Harry Zimmerman and was directed for Family Theatre by J. F. Mansfield. The closing poem was written by Nick Kenny. This series of Family Theatre broadcasts is made possible by the thousands of you who felt 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 so unselfishly given of their time and talent to appear on our Family Theatre stage. To them and to you, our humble thanks. This is Tony LaFranco expressing the wish of Family Theatre that the blessing of God may be upon you and your home and inviting you to be with us next week at the same time when Family Theatre will present J. Carol Nash and William Lundigan in the new frontier. Join us, won't you? Family Theatre is broadcast throughout the world and originates in the Hollywood studios of the world's largest network, the Mutual Broadcasting System.