 Family Theatre presents Claire Booth-Loose and J. Carol Nash. The mutual broadcasting system in cooperation with Family Theatre brings you J. Carol Nash in the title role of Pepe Bergo, American citizen. Now to introduce the drama, your hostess, Claire Booth-Loose. Thank you, Tony Lafranco. Before we proceed to our drama, a word about dramatic force. A very special kind of dramatic force, prayer. It is to make this force better known and more deeply used in love that Family Theatre exists. Family Theatre asks all of us to pray, to pray with courage and with hope. Now to Pepe Bergo, American citizen, starring J. Carol Nash. A new democracy, government under God, is from the people and for them. Pepe Bergo was one of those Americans who became a citizen by naturalization. Pepe was yet to learn why we dare not and cannot destroy certain inalienable rights. Don't you guys do enough of it during the day? Well, it's a lot of fun. Tell them how good it is for your violin playing, Pepe. When a skinny animal has to keep it a finger soap and strong, you work at its strings with the left hand and then you need a strength for the movement. It works both ways. Violin playing makes him a good skinner. And skinning makes him a good violinist, Pepe. The best four and a half finger violinist in town. Yeah, wise guy, and if you had 50 fingers, he'd still be a better skinner than you are. Okay, everybody, back to the highs. Come on, come on. Hey, Pepe. Yeah, yeah, I'm over here. The boys say what do you want? Pepe, you have to go get your time. What? Get in my time, boys? I'm sorry, Pepe, but you have to go. But why, boys? My work is not satisfactory. I'm going to do something. Why do I have to get in my time? Don't ask me, Pepe. All I know is I got orders to fire you. You can't work here. I can't do work here? Or in any food plant in the country? Why, why, why? What am I doing? As a health inspector waiting in the office to see you. All I know, Pepe, is I got orders to fire you. Excuse me, Angela. No practice to violin now. You help me with the table, huh? I know practice. For a pleasure, for a pleasure. Ruthie, from the next door, come to eat tonight with her fella. Ruthie and me set a trap. I feel his stomach with lasagna. She feels his eyes with her pretty face in pretty dress. Tonight he proposes to marry with her, huh? What's the matter? You not think he's nice? Ruthie is fine, girl. Art is fine fella. They should be married about the time. Yeah, he's nice. Pepe, you know what you do. A knife, a fork, a spoon for each person, huh? Why, you put two spoons here and two knives here. Oh, you're just a man. I finish you. Drag yourself some wine, huh? I'm not thirsty. Ah, you'll be thirsty after the lasagna. I'm no hungry. Pepe, no. There is something wrong, huh? I just lose my job. Mother inia. Fired. Never before in my life. Fired. For what? Because his order. Health and respect, he orders. What am I doing? How? How we pay the rent? How are we going to buy the food? We manage, there is just the two of us. We manage, huh? I'll see the door. Don't you worry, Pepe, no. We'll be all right. No, don't forget, we make it nice for Ruthie, huh? I'll knock open the door. Just a minute, just a minute. Hello, Angela. Hi, Pepe. Hi, Pepe. Here, Angela. Oh, look, Pepe. Lovely flowers, roses. Oh, they're beautiful. Almost as beautiful as much as Ruthie, huh? That's what I've been telling her, but she won't believe me. Oh, why, you don't believe him, Ruthie? I'm trying new tactics, Angela. I'm saying no to everything until he feels safe. Then, when he asks the important question, I'm going to surprise him and say yes. Oh, no. Pepe, the one thing I understand less than Einstein's theory is women. That makes you a very sensible fellow. All day I've been trying to ask her to marry me. I know she loves me, but she refuses to let me pop the question until later tonight. Honestly, what can be done about men, Angela? They think it's their prerogative to go around disrupting plans. Well, please, come on, let's see it, Doctor. I'm a second after the lasagna. Questions are going to be permitted. Richard, sure took a beating at your table, Angela. Ah, he's going to propose tonight, huh? No more to worry about, you figure. Uh-uh, it just doesn't work that way. Well, I know, you and Ruthie go. Angela and me, we're going to stay home. We want you to come with us, Pepe. Angela, how about you and Pepe coming to the movies? Good idea, huh? Sure, younger people should have set in a private time together. I don't think Pepe enjoys our company. I remember just yesterday he was the joking type man. Quick on the trigger with a gag, ready at the drop of a hat to play the violin. I know, Arthur, isn't much to look at, Pepe, but he isn't that depressing. He, uh, he had the trouble today. Well, go on, go on, bust the bust. Oh, I'm sorry, Pepe. Gee, can we do anything? There's nothing that someone can do. Oh, try us, Pepe. I won't let you look so glum. Today, uh, he loses his job. Oh, I'm so sorry, Pepe. Gee, how come, Pepe? I was a fad. I'm a skilled worker. They say at the plant, I'm one of the best. But I'm a fad. Those fools don't appreciate a good worker. You'll get another job, Pepe. There are plenty of packing houses in this city. You know what I'm saying? I must not to work in a food plant anyway. That's an order. Nobody can issue that kind of an order. They should. To me, Pepe Virgo, I must not to work where there's a food. Health department inspects they say that. I don't know. Dig ditches. Where does he get his nerve? What health department inspector? What did he say exactly, Pepe? He say, he say I typhoid the carrier. What? He say I start epidemic in the North two times that they warned me before. I don't know what he's talking about. I don't know. But I can do nothing. It's an order from the state. Well, I should hope to smile. I can do something. You're an American citizen. Yeah, sure. Me. I'm a citizen. You don't have to stand for that nonsense. Where do they get their nerve firing you? Art, your sister works for a lawyer. Call her up. Now, please excuse me. I'm a salameco fuss. It's my trouble. Go on, you go through the movies. Please, you go and enjoy yourself. Well, don't stand there like a dope. Art, call your sister. The proper place for histronics, Mr. Vernon, is in the theater, not the courtroom. Now, if you'll proceed calmly. My client, Pepe Virgo, employed by the municipal packing plant, whose work was admittedly satisfactory, was willfully and arbitrarily discharged. This action utterly deprives him of his livelihood. I therefore petitioned the court for a writ of mandate to the municipal packing plant ordering that Pepe Virgo's job be returned to him. Is the health inspector concerned present in the court? Yes, Your Honor. Step forward, please. What have you to say bearing on this case? Pepe Virgo comes from Hembley County, which, as you know, is in the north of the state. The first contact the health department had with him was when he was tracked down as the source of an epidemic in that county. He is a typhoid carrier. Have I had some mistake, a judge? Remain seated, Mr. Virgo. Go on, inspector. A typhoid carrier, although not a victim of typhoid himself, passes the bacteria on to others. We informed Pepe Virgo of his condition and cautioned him to find employment and other than a food industry. The next time the health department met him was when an epidemic in Ogden County was tracked to its source. Virgo again. Pepe, Your Honor. Your Honor, this is the first mention there has been of Ogden County. My client claims he never lived there. In Ogden County, as is now, Your Honor, Pepe Virgo denied he was the man. In most cases, typhoid carriers cooperate with us. In those cases, they don't, the health department sends warnings and detailed descriptions to all agencies in the state. This man is a menace to the public. All the papers concerned with this case are in the document. Hmm, yes. Pepe Virgo, come forward, please. Your name? Pepe Virgo. Age? Forty-five years, last month. You lived in Hembley County and in Ogden County? In Hembley, yes, Your Honor, but in Ogden, no, no, never. According to the health inspector, Pepe Virgo has lied before about his place of residence. But, Your Honor, I'm not the Pepe Virgo which he means. Would you raise your hands, please? Ah, yes, here it is. Half of little finger left hand missing. Pepe Virgo, obviously you are the same man. You are a menace to the public health. And if the laws of this state permitted, I would commit you to a penal institution. Rit denied. But, Your Honor, I'm a case dismissed. They say I'm a liar. I'm not telling the truth. I say the truth. There are many men whose skin of the animal got a piece of the finger off. What is the mistake? I'm not the man. Then what happened, Pepe? That's enough, you know. The judge, you talk about putting me in jail. I tell you, you cannot fight to the state. You got to get into trouble. No, you won't get into trouble. You're fighting for your rights. Lies cost money. If you, you know, get at the job back, we don't have no money anyway. Angela, what's, what's happening? You have to put them in jail. Who's going to take care of you? What's the matter? I know kind of work. I know kind of cook. I know kind of wash. Oh, oh. I prove them at the table they don't make people sick. They don't make the epidemic. We keep a fighting. Pape, how are you? I'm all right, Hans. How's the butcher business? Fine, fine. What's happening on your keys? My lord, Mr. Van and his make me get doctor examination photographs in my face. Lots of evidence, he say. But then, oh, but, Hans... soon, I hope I'm going to be able to pay you a bill. Never mind the bill, Peppy. Tell Angela I am angry that she charges not any more meat here. Sure, I gonna tell her. Come into the store. I have a new ice cream flavor. A free sample. No, I'm a kind of judge. Angela is waiting for me for lunch. Now, wait a minute. That's all right. Take some home for dessert. It's a new dessert. You'll be my first customer and my ice cream tester. It's a free sample. That's very nice, Georgie, but we don't eat ice cream. Wargo, how's the case going? Oh, it's all right. It's all right. I guess, Mr. Wargo, my lawyer is going to take it to the district court of appeal. But what's the matter? You no worker today, huh? Oh, I'm on a night shift now. Mr. Wargo, I know I'm not going to say this good, you know. But I tell you, you need anything you ask me, huh? Well, thank you very much, Mr. Wargo. I'm not eating anything. I don't eat anything. All right. Well, goodbye, Mr. Wargo. Goodbye. Goodbye, Mr. Wargo. Just a moment. He comes. But they know the lawyer on the telephone. Here, I talk. All right. Hello, Mr. Wargo. Hello, Mr. Wargo. I have some good news. Good. Good. Something is happening. The medical report has come back. It shows absolutely no sign of typhoid bacteria. Of course it should. Are you here, Angela? No sign of the typhoid, huh? Another thing, even more important. I sent a man up to Hembley County with those photos of you. He just wired me that he's got a lead on someone who knew the other Peppy Wargo. Oh, it's fine, Mr. Wargo. That's fine. Head out of district court appeals ahead. Now they're going to give us something, huh? Well, in reference to that, the district court of appeals has refused to reverse the trial court. We'll take it to the state court of final resort. Wait a minute, Mr. Wargo. Doctor, he's saying I'm not the typhoid of Korea. We've got pictures that are going to show the man that we're the typhoid. They're not to me. But a court is not to listen. It's just a technicality. Now I know you're innocent. Sure, sure. You know I'm innocent. Angela knows I'm innocent. I know I'm innocent. But I'm only... I'm only a little man. The city says I'm guilty. The state says I'm guilty. But what a chance I'm gonna get. I tell you, I tell you all the time, all of you, you cannot fight to the state. But we can fight. I understand how bitter you must be, Mr. Wargo. No, no, please, please. I know better. I just want to forget that. We keep them back in trouble over the judges and then we get into more trouble. Goodbye. Goodbye, please, Mr. Wargo. Thank you very much. What's the matter? At first you were happy. I know I talk no more, Angela. Mr. Moroni, he's offering me job of construction again. But I'm not gonna work for him. Oh, you're crazy. You're gonna push a wheelbarrow. Oh, Pepino, you got the dread. I got a nut tonight. They'll take your job away anytime if they want to. Send me here like everywhere else. Hello, Mr. Wargo. Mr. Edlin, have a chair for you. Hello. One for you, Mrs. Wargo. Thank you for being here. We came to see you, Mr. Vernon, because Angela fell. But Pepino is going to die of the broken heart. For a month, he no played the violin. I'm terribly sorry, Mrs. Wargo. I'm convinced your husband's innocent. There's been a terrible mistake. Everything's been proper and legal. It's just that the circumstances are against us. Well, Angela feels that perhaps chord action isn't the thing that will snap Pepi out of it. You say that Pepi's innocent. Why are you sure? The medical reports are negative. Then, too, my agent and Hemley contacted people who knew the original Pepi, Wargo. When shown your husband's picture, Angela, they were sure it wasn't the same man. Oh, that's what's important, Ying. Pepino feel his friends are afraid for him to touch their food. If it could be proved to the neighbors that Pepino hasn't looked like him... My dear Mrs. Wargo, we can prove it to the world if he'd only let me take it further. Never mind the world, adjust to the neighbors. The only way it can be proved to anybody with complete satisfaction is through the courts. It's very frustrating to know that a man's innocent. That he can be cleared, but he won't let me fight to clear him. Angela, if you could only convince him to trust Mr. Vernon... He trusts nobody, especially lawyers now. Mr. Vernon, you kind of just proved to the neighbors, huh? Well, I don't know, Mrs. Wargo. The day I hear from the State Court a final resort, I'll visit you at your home with all the evidence I've gathered on this case. Perhaps then I can convince your husband to let me go on with it. Oh, Mr. Vernon, if you bring the smile back to Pepino, if you make him go to the valley, and again I would pray for you to all the same... Mrs. Wargo, just pray that your husband loses his fear of fighting for his rights. Oh, for a long time, I pray that... Goodbye, Mr. Vernon. God bless you. What's with that angel? Is somebody else in the coming? People are just a drop-in. Oh, hold on a minute. Is this just a drop-in? Just to like it, huh? Good evening, everybody. Mr. Vernon. May I come in? Excuse me. Please come in. Please. Please. Nobody make a mistake of what I say, huh? You're all welcome. But I know like the games that'll be played with me. What's going on here, huh? Nobody's been playing games, Pepino. Perhaps I can explain, Mr. Wargo. I've just heard from the State Court a final resort. But why you do that, huh? I told you I was a finished. What to happen with a court? They refuse to review the case. Refuse, okay. Now everybody's to convince, huh? The State, they can't have to be fired for it. We got evidence to prove that you are not a typhoid carrier, that you've been mistaken for another man. Good. Good. Good. Good. That's all right. That's all right. That's a fact. You've got the proof. What do you good at, though, huh? The judges, they don't want to listen. They don't want to listen, because I'm just a little man. Not because you're a little man, Mr. Wargo. The higher courts have simply passed on whether or not you've got a fair trial. Unfortunately, the evidence we have now was not presented at your first trial. There's only one way to go back to that first court Let me take it to the Supreme Court. Supreme Court of the United States? Yes. You're crazy. Me, Pepo Virgo, got the Supreme Court of the United States. Mr. Vernon Goodman Papino, do what he says. Sure, let it be. Do what he says. That's a matter. That's a matter. You all are crazy. You want to get to me the part. You want me to go to jail? Supreme Court of the United States. No, within your rights, Mr. Virgo. Nobody's going to deport you or put you in jail. Do you think we can win, Mr. Vernon? I'm sure of it, Miss Desmond. What'll it take to fight it, Mr. Vernon? Not too much. There'll be some costs for printing of briefs and records and filing of petitions. I want no fee for myself, but costs would come to approximately $200. $200? What is $200? The whole neighborhood will chip in and it is the fight of all of us. Yeah. Well, that's a fine. Relax. That's a fine. Just a fine. Sure, everybody's going to pay, huh? Well, I don't need no charity. I don't need no charity to get into more trouble. Everybody's a button in my business, so United States governors are going to get the money that the man... It is not charity, Pipi. No, Pipi. We do it for ourselves. What do you all get to do with it? It is very important to us. We all dream the same dream when we came to this country, Pipi. Sure. Here in America there's a joy of life for us. This country is good to be citizen of. Good to live in. That's what we think, all of us, when we come. Remember what we used to say to each one the other when we studied for our papers? Security, justice, dignity. A country where a man can be full gone up. Sure, Pipi. You must prove for your friends that democracy has the belief and the value and the dignity of the human being. For us, there would be no place to go. Sure, I'm always a believer. I'm always a believer in democracy, everything for everybody. But now I'm feeling just like nobody. How am I going to do that? Listen, if nobody can go to the Supreme Court in the United States, that is something. If the government makes a mistake and an injustice is done, and then the government makes right the mistake, then we have the security, the dignity. What's the matter? I know how the security, the dignity, the hum. Sure, I'm one of those things. But what am I going to do? For us, you must prove the dream is true for all the neighborhood, for all the people in the world who have followed the dream to this country. What makes you think they're going to let me to the Supreme Court? I believe what we have read when we studied for our papers. Sure, you remember, Pepe, we used to read to each other. I'm going to remember, sure, I'm going to remember. I'm never going to forget, but I'm going to remember we hold this truth to be self-evident. All men create the equal, that they are doubted by the creator with certain ill-elible rights that among these are life, liberty, pursuit of the happiness that to secure these rights. An anonymous opinion of this court that the refusal of the trial on the grounds of newly discovered evidence was an error and a denial to the plaintiff of due process of law. It is therefore ordered that Pepe Virgo be given a new trial. Angela, Angela, the door. I heard the good news, and I'm so happy. Oh, Ruthie, it's very good. Everything's going to be all right. Everything's going to be wonderful. Petina is playing his violin again. That's right, Ruthie. Hey, Ruthie, I'm going to get all of my backer Pepe backer. Mr. Vernon, say it's a cinch to win the case. Pepe, how does it feel being a little man now? What do you mean, a little man? Who's a little man? When a fellow citizen of the United States of America then he's as big as any man in the whole world. Who's loose again? Everywhere I go, people ask me when is the United Nations going to bring us peace? The answer is that peace cannot be produced by organized political groups alone, however good the organization. There are no man-made political or economic blueprints for peace which alone can guarantee it. I don't mean we all can't discover the laws of peace. We can, but we can't invent them. It's like this. Take Euclid, whose geometry we study in school. Now, Euclid didn't create. He discovered the mathematical laws for geometry. The laws themselves had always been in the universe. He worked them out, but he didn't create them. Any more than the minor creates the gold, he digs out of a mountain. There's a God-given law of peace too, but it can be found only in the hearts of men of good will. Only good will, brotherly love, can cast out the fear in men's hearts of other men, and fear is the root of love. Fear is the root of all war. Peace is the trustful triangle formed by love between each man, his neighbor and God. Another thing, we must never forget that even though the world itself can't have peace, every individual can. You and I can find peace for ourselves through prayer and union with a divine plan, and if each of us would try to find peace for ourselves, we would be helping to find it for all the world. Peace. No, no man-made plot or plan, no diplomatic maneuvers can advance it, no international organization or treaties can guarantee it. There's no balance of power scheme, no army that can enforce it, unless God is the base of the triangle formed by him with each of us on one side and our neighbor on the other. Everyone in America is yearning for peace on this memorial day. Our best chance to have it is to pray for peace and to keep peace in our own lives and souls, and so the great contribution each of us can make is to put our own interior life in order according to God's law of love. From that love, from that order, peace cannot fail to spring and the family theater reminds us, the family that prays together stays together. More things are wrought by prayer than this world reads out. But Family Theater has brought you J. Carol Nash in Pepe Verco, American citizen. Claire Booth-Lewis was your hostess. Others in our cast were Irene Tedrow, Barbara Eiler, Herb Rawlinson, Herb Vigran, Charles Seal, Harold Deeronforth, Howard Culver, Jack Raymond, and John Sheehan. The script was written by Fred Freiberger, with music composed and conducted by Harry Zimmerman and was directed for Family Theater by Joseph F. Mansfield. 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 responds 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 LaFranco 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 at the same time when Family Theater will present Margaret O'Brien, Ricardo Matibon, and Rita Johnson in The Holdout Heart. Join us, won't you? Family Theater has broadcast throughout the world and originates in the Hollywood Studios and is one of the world's largest network, the Mutual Broadcasting System.