 Family Theater presents Bing Crosby from Hollywood, the mutual network in cooperation with Family Theater presents Wally and now here is your host, Bing Crosby. Thank you Tony LaFrono. Family Theater's only purpose is to bring to everyone's attention to practice this must become an important part of our lives if we're to win peace for ourselves and peace for our families and peace for the world. Family Theater is for you to pray and pray together as a family. And now to our transcribed drama Wally featuring Alan Reed as Radcliffe. Mr. Radcliffe's office? Why he's on another line just now Mr. Hughes, can I have him call you back? Oh that's fine. Well I know he wishes you all the luck in the world and that goes for the rest of us too. I'll tell him you called. Fine. We'll expect you tonight then. Goodbye Mr. Hughes. Well who is that, our ex slave driver? Yes he can't seem to get used to the idea that he's still not working here. How does he like being a vice president? Well I guess he'll bear up under it. Yeah, say Jeanette, I don't expect you to tell me any tales out of school you know but it's been almost two weeks now since Hughes left. I wondered if your father has decided yet on who's going to replace him as sales manager. Oh Wally, I wouldn't worry about it. I think you're in the bag. I sure hope you're right. Well Bill says there's just no question of anyone else getting the job. Well it sure can't hurt to have the boss's prospective son-in-law plugging for you. We're all plugging for you. I sure appreciate it Jeanette. The raise will come in mighty handy. How's your wife? Most beautiful girl in the world. I just hope Bill keeps talking like that about me after we're married. Yes dad? Now bring in your book honey, I've got a few letters. Right away. Hey, if you get a chance to drop a little broad hint. Don't worry, I'll drop a dozen. Mrs. Francis, killing me. Stiff upper lip Wally. Say, do you know of the confirmation letter on that renewal from James Town Plaster's communion? Oh, not that I know of. It might have been sent to Sykes, you better check with him. All right. Let's see, nice. Post this bulletin as soon as you get it typed after you got your book here. I'm already. Our regular Wednesday get-together of Radcliffe printing families will be postponed this week only until tomorrow evening due to special preparations which must be made. The party isn't tonight? I couldn't manage it. Oh, I'd better call Mr. Hughes right back. I told him we'd be expecting him. Oh yes, do that, wouldn't you get him in a minute? No, no, where was I? We'll be postponed this week only until tomorrow evening due to special preparations which must be made. Which must be made to honor this special occasion, the naming of our new sales manager. Well, congratulations. You finally went and did it. That's why I want to be sure Joe Hughes will be there. You know, have the old sales manager rush her in the new, make kind of a ceremony out of it. Oh, if you only knew what a relief this will be to Wally. Wally? He's been walking around like a man in a trance for the past two weeks. We've all been telling him he didn't have a thing to worry about, but he was the only logical choice. Honey, I'm not giving Wally Conrad the job. Damn. He's simply not the man for it. Well, he's your top salesman month after month. He's not management caliber. His attitude is wrong. Well, you're not going to bring in some stuffed shirt from outside. Why don't you hang on to your temper until I finish? With a big baritone voice in an impressive manner? Man, I've chosen for the job as a member of our organization right now. Well, if it isn't Wally, I don't... It's still a choice I don't think you'll quarrel with. I'm making Bill the new sales manager. Bill? I thought that'd quiet you down. And you wait and see, Bill's going to be a crackerjack. He's intelligent. He's got the right company attitude. And just incidentally, this promotion might make it possible for you two kids to get married a little sooner. But that last consideration is as incidental as you say. Oh, now cool down. Bill's already proposed to me. He doesn't need to be pushed. I'd like to remind you, young lady, that although I can't pick my son-in-laws, I do have something to say about my sales managers. I chose Bill for this job because he's got the stuff and for that reason alone. Have... have you told him about it yet? Mm-hmm. About half an hour ago when he phoned in from American break. You put him through to me. Yes, but I didn't talk to him afterwards. Well, he said he was on his way back here. I guess I should have let him break the news to you. What did he think of the idea? Oh, quite a surprise to him, of course. He'd only been with the firm four years, actually. I think he was a little stunned. You wait, though. He'll take hold. Dad, did he say he'd take the job? Take it? Well, of course he'll take it. How often does an opportunity... But did he say he would? Well, I told you he was a little bowled over by the whole thing, but... come in. Mr. Ratcliffe. Bill, come on in. We were just talking about you. Hello, honey. Jeanette. Dad was just telling me the big news. That's what I came in to talk about, sir. Bill, I know it's a big responsibility, but you can handle it. Well, Mr. Ratcliffe, I've been thinking it over pretty hard for the last half hour. All the time I was driving back here. Jeanette, I hope I can make you understand this. I think I understand perfectly, dear. Understand what? What are we talking about? Sir, I can't take the job as sales manager. Do you know what you're saying? I don't deserve it. Will you let me be the judge of what you deserve? No, sir, I can't do that. Bill, I love you very much. Well, I don't love him very much. Mr. Ratcliffe. Son, this is my company. It's got my name on the door, Ratcliffe printing, and I will be the one to decide who gets promoted around here. It's not that simple, sir. Don't you think you can handle the job? I didn't say that. You think it's too big for you? No, sir, but... You've got some sentimental compunction about Wally Conrad. Is that it? I wouldn't call it sentimental. Not in the name of common sense. Dad, you've asked Bill four different questions, and you haven't let him answer a single one of them. Give him a break, will you? A break? I'm trying to give him a job that pays ten thousand a year plus bonuses. I know that, sir, and I'm proud and honored that you have so much faith in me. You're proud and honored by foot. But it wouldn't work. Yes, I think I could handle the job and I'm not afraid of it. But I'm not the best man you could get, and if I took the job, everybody on the sales force, everybody in the company would be convinced that you gave it to me over Wally because I'm gonna marry your daughter. Well, that's a lot of baloney. Okay, but I'd have to live with it. Don't misunderstand me, Mr. Radcliffe. I like working for this company, and someday I intend to run it to sit where you're sitting right now. But I don't want to get off on the wrong foot around here by having you promote me to sales manager over the head of a more deserving man. That's nice speech, Bill. Except for one thing. Wally Conrad, fine salesman though he is, is not the more deserving man. He's a lone wolf. He does not think in company terms. Dad, you're always saying that. I say it because it's true. Well, what exactly do you mean? Ten years ago, I brought in the best employee relations consultant that money could buy and told him to set up a program that would increase efficiency around here. The heart and soul of that program are the social activities we sponsor to bring the employees and their families together. Give them all a sense of being part of one big family, one big team. I know, I know. You decide deeply all you want to, but that system is paid off. Well, I don't deny that, Dad, but... I can take you down to the accounting department and show you the figures. Well, even so, what has this got to do with Wally? Have you ever once seen Wally Conrad or his wife at our Wednesday night get-togethers? Well... Or Friday night bowling. Well, I'm not sure. Or Monday night peenocker. You make that regularly. Bill, did you ever see him there? No, sir, but if he ever goes through those things, it doesn't seem fair to pass him over for promotion just for that. It's not just for that. That's what I'm trying to make clear. Wally's disinterest in the social activity sponsored by the company is only symptomatic of the fact that he is a loner and basically disinterested in the entire company structure. Boy, that's right, out of a consultant's handbook. You go ahead and jeer, but it proves out. Mr. Radcliffe, have you considered that there may be a very good reason why Wally doesn't come with these things? Yes, best reason in the world. He doesn't want to. Dad, that's unfair. Give me a better reason. Well, maybe his wife isn't interested in that kind of socializing. No, I've never met her, but from all the bragging Wally does about his wife, I take her to be intelligent enough to want to advance her husband's career. Women are very astute about that sort of thing. They'd be present if these get-togethers were up to her. No, no, no, no. He just doesn't care about them. Well, there are quite a few people in the company who don't come to the get-togethers. Ah, yes, yes, but they aren't key executives and that's the big difference. In a family, it's the parents who set the example. In an army, it's the officers. In a team, it's the captain. Well, it is. Well, it seems to me that you're just riding Wally off without giving him a chance. Maybe he doesn't realize how much importance you attach to this kind of thing. Oh, he knows. How could he not know? Just the nature of the job. Salesmen are out of the office a better part of the day. You're a salesman, you know. Let's face it, I'm engaged to the boss' daughter. You have no secrets from me. Listen, Bill, I make the decisions around here and I'm offering you the job as my sales manager. Now, for the final time, take it or leave it. I'll take it. Well, that's more like it. On condition that you offer the job to Wally first. I will. And tell him that you expect him to start taking part in the social activities of the company. Oh, that's nonsense. Of course, he'll promise to take part in them. All right, then tack a rider on to it. If he doesn't live up to the promise, he loses the job. Well, Dad, that's only fair. Then if you do, Bill, sales manager, at least Wally won't be able to say he wasn't given a chance. Looks like the in-laws are beginning to run the business even before they join the family. Well, you can see my position, Mr. Radcliffe. All right, all right, I'll try it. I'll try it. It's a terrible idea. Oh, Dad, I love you too. Well, don't, don't slobber on me. What time should I tell Wally you want to see him? Oh, at a conference with psychs, three, hadn't dropped in some time after 4.30. I'll tell him. I want to thank you for this, sir. Oh, not at all, not at all. I only hope I can continue to fulfill my duties here in a manner that you approve of. Dad. Yes, sir, I think you'll work out fine. So, Wally, that's the offer. I see, Mr. Radcliffe. I've tried to be perfectly honest with you and setting forth my doubts. And as I said, my speaking to you about this is something that Bill and Jeanette convinced me should be done. Now, I hope, my boy, you understand there's nothing personal in my attitude. Yes, of course. I've been very well satisfied working for you. I should tell you that nothing would please me more than if you were really to dig in and become part of the Radcliffe family, so to speak. I have no doubt about your ability, Wally. It's your attitude, your apparent unwillingness to belong that has made me hesitate. I certainly want the job. I want it more than I can tell you. Well, that's half the battle if you wanted to have worked on it. No, I'm not afraid of work. I think you must know that. Well, if you let me take a crack at the manager's ship, I'm sure that in a few months I can swing into the social activities. A few months? Well, sir, I mean, as soon as I've settled into the job... Wally, what is the problem on this thing? Is it that your wife doesn't want you to participate in the company's social program? No, no, no, no. She... I wouldn't want you to think Lois was like that. Well, then what is it? I've just told you that one of the conditions of the job that you participated in, now you tell me that you might be able to after a few months. Well, sir, I think I will. Oh, I can't just start now. Well, you see... Look, if you're trying to tell me that it's none of my business, you have a perfect right to. But the Radcliffe printing company is my business, and I think I have a right to expect my executives to conform to the policy of that company. Yes, sir. Of course you do, sir. Look, Wally, as a salesman, just one of the fours, you could be on your own. But as a sales manager, you have to set an example right from the start. Yes, I... I realize that, Mr. Radcliffe, and thank you for the offer anyway. Well, I don't get it at all. But didn't you offer any reason, Dad? Not so much as an excuse. Oh, Bill, take a left here. You can drop me off at the club. Well, I thought you were having dinner with us. No, I told Joe Durrana to play some billiards with him. You want us to pick you up on the way home? No thanks. I'm right home with Joe. Dad, we'd love to have you come along. No, no, no. You kids go ahead and have a good time. Here we are, Bill. I'm sorry, the idea about Wally didn't work out, sir. Yes, the way I am, too. Well, see you in the morning. You bet. Good night, Dad. Good night, honey. Have fun. There's a lonesome guy in me. Sometimes he seems so lonesome I could cry just looking at him. He must have loved your mother a lot. Yes, he did. You know, that's something that bothers me once in a while. You mean, how much you'll be alone after we get married? Well, I'm near all these guys. No. No, he's not like that. He knows people have to lead their own lives. I wonder. What do you mean? He doesn't seem to want to let Wally lead his. Oh, Bill. You know, I've heard your dad's side of this story. I'd like to know Wally's. Do you think we ever will? You got the whole night ahead of us. What do you say we drive back to the office and get Wally's address? What good's that going to do us? How can you pay a call in a minute if you don't know where he lives? How's the new job going? Great. Why am I answering my own phone? My highly paid secretary seems to be taking a long lunch. Say, I'm sorry about the last minute of cancellation yesterday. Did Jeanette get back to you all right? Good. You can't make it tonight, then. Wonderful. Huh? Well, I know Joe. As a matter of fact, I'm making Bill the new sales manager. Well, there's one consideration involved. It's, uh... I suppose I explain it to you tonight. Speaking of the devil, here she is with her boyfriend. I better get back to work. Fine, Joe. I'll pick up about six for dinner. You bet. Come on. Well, I'm glad to see you're still on payroll. Dad. And Mr. Radcliffe, there's something we want to talk to you about. It's about Wally. Oh, now look, we've been all through this. No, I'm afraid we haven't, sir. Not all through it. Bill, I'm running out of patience. We finally found out where Wally spends his Wednesday nights. Well, where he spends them is no business of mine. At a laundromat. At a what? That's right. A laundromat. He's got another job? He's got a job beating around the bush. All right. Come on. What? We're going for a little ride. I've got a desk full of important work to get out. This is more important. No, Jeanette. No, believe us, Mr. Radcliffe. It's much more important. So stop arguing and put on your hat. That's Wally's house across the street, second building from the corner. His apartment's on the ground floor. Very interesting. Now that I've seen the sights, would you mind taking me back to the office? Bill and I drove by here last night. We planned to drop in on Wally. Just to see if we could find out what's behind all this. Right about here. We saw Wally come out carrying a couple of laundry bags. His wife was waving to him from the front window. And so we didn't drop in after all. We thought we'd leave that to you. To me? That's right. I'm not going in there. Oh, yes you are. You just happened to be passing through the neighborhood and you realized you'd never had the opportunity of meeting Wally's wife so you thought you'd stop in and pay your respect. I'll do no such thing poking into a man's house. Believe me, Dad. You'll be doing Wally a favor. Permit me to be the judge of that. Mr. Radcliffe, you're enough of a judge of human nature to know that people don't do things without a good reason. I've seen that rule broken before. But not by men like Wally Conrad. Dad, please? Wait a minute. Tell me the truth. Do you know what I'm going to find in there? You got a fair idea. Oh, but it's just an idea. And it may not be the whole story at all. I have allowed myself to be talked into more nonsense during the last 24 hours. Dad, you're always saying you want the people you work with to feel like members of a big family. Well, when one of those people doesn't seem to want to be part of the family, don't you as head of it have an obligation to find out why? All right, all right. Second building from the corner? Ground floor. His name's on the bell. Conrad. Yes? Mrs. Conrad? Yes. My name is Radcliffe. Mr. Radcliffe of Radcliffe, Princey. Oh. Just a moment, please. Don't you come in. The door's unlocked. Thank you. I... Please come in, Mr. Radcliffe. I'm sorry about making you wait, but I always have to wheel away from the door first or people might walk right into me. All right. I see. If you came by to see Raleigh... Oh, no, no. I just happened to be passing through the neighborhood and I realized I'd never had the opportunity of meeting you, so I thought I'd stop by and pay my respects. Oh, that was very thoughtful of you. Do come in and sit down. Thank you. Can I help turn your chair around? Oh, no. Watch. See? All in one gesture. Very smooth. You just stop one wheel and turn the other forward. Would you like some coffee? Oh, no, no. Thank you, Mrs. Conrad. You know, I'm awfully glad you stopped in, Mr. Radcliffe. I've never had a chance to meet any people Wally works with. Although he talks about you all so much, I feel we're very well acquainted. You know how business offices are. Well, I know. All business. I guess that's the way it has to be, but that seemed too bad. Oh, please sit down. Thank you. Well, how do you mean too bad, Mrs. Conrad? Well, Wally'd die if he heard me talking like this to you of all people. Well, after all, it is your company. No, really, really. I'm interested. Well, it seems to me, especially in the firm as large as yours, that we'd have some sort of a social program. Social program? You know, for getting the employees together after working hours and their families, so they'd get to know one another. Have I said something wrong? No, no, no, Mrs. Conrad. I was just thinking. Well, I suppose you think I'm talking out of turn. No, I don't really, no. But there's one thing I wonder about if you don't mind my big frank. Yes? If I were to institute a program like that, considering your condition... Polio, you can say it. My right leg's coming back a little, but I'm afraid the left one's gone for good. That's what I mean. I imagine you're all alone most of the days it is. Wally weren't here in the evenings. You would probably never see it. Oh, not even as it is. I don't see too much of him. But in the evening he does his shopping. Can you knock on that? Pardon? Well, in some companies they have, you know, companies that have this social program. That's Pinnacle Night Monday. Oh, well then on Wednesdays and Fridays he does the heavy housework or takes the laundry, one or the other. That's usually bowling night, on Friday, or wherever they have it. Well, I guess you're right at that, Mr. Radcliffe. Wally probably wouldn't be able to fit much of it in the way things are. But even so, it seems to me a company as big as yours should have some kind of program. I must admit, I thought a lot about it. No, you won't tell Wally I spattered off like this, will you? Oh, of course not. I won't even tell him I was here if you don't want me to. Well, maybe that'd be even better. Well, I must tell him I guess I'd better be moving along. It's been a real pleasure meeting you at last. Mr. Radcliffe. Yes? I'd like to say something to you, frankly, if you'd let me. Of course, my dear. Wally tells me that you're a widower. Yes, that's when my wife died a little over ten years ago. And now there's just you and your daughter. And I understand she's going to be married to Bill Malone, I think. The man who's going to be your new sales manager. Did Wally tell you that? Yes, last night. He said Bill's a regular genius. He's a very talented and a very honorable young man. Well, I'm alone a lot. I'm sort of an expert on the subject, and I know what it can be like. Don't you think now that your daughter will be leaving you soon that it might be a good idea to start up a company program like this just for yourself, if nothing else? You know something? It might. It might have been. After all, when your real family's gone, you've got to have something for a substitute. Yes, I guess you do. I'm surprised you did start doing it ten years ago when your wife died. Well, I was pretty engrossed in the business. So you'd have something to leave for your daughter. Yes, that was the reason. But now you'll have a son-in-law who can carry on with the company? I'd say you ought to start thinking about yourself for a change. Mrs. Conrad, I'm grateful to you. It's very generous of you to concern yourself this much with me. But say, look, if after giving me this idea, you wouldn't be able to participate in the program yourself. Oh, you'd see plenty of me, at least in a few months. A few months? You know what the doctor says at the rate my right leg's coming back? I'll be able to go, oh, just about anywhere before long. Why, that's one. Even bowling alleys and places like that? Well, I'm crutches, of course, but there's nothing very tricky about getting into a bowling alley if you're just going to sit and watch. After all, Wally's the bowler in the family. Is he, is he good? Never under 220 until he gave it up. Oh, and you got sick. That's right, but if you started up a social program, I, well, I could just bully him into taking it up again. I'd tell him his job might depend upon it. Why, I wouldn't want you to think that that were ever the case. Oh, of course not, but sometimes you have to force people into relaxing. Wally's like that, takes on too much. It isn't good for him. If, if he were to take on a bigger job than the one he has now, with the company I'm in, would you be opposed to that? You mean a promotion? Yes, to sales manager. Well, I thought Mr. Malone... Yes, I know there was some talk about that in the office, but most of it came from just one person who obviously has a lot to learn. What? No, I wouldn't object, but Wally... Wally doesn't know anything about it yet, and I thought we might make a surprise out of it. Tonight. Oh, but... I was thinking that about 8.30 some of the people from the office could come by here. I'd be one of them, of course, and maybe on sort of a small scale, we could start this social idea you've got. Oh, but there's so much cleaning to do. Oh, I've got a couple of friends out in the car. Oh, now I know Mr. Ratcliffe. We could pitch in and tidy up a bit. Not too much, of course, or Wally might catch on. And then tonight, you just make sure that he doesn't go shopping or to the laundry or anything like that. And at 8.30, would we bring the front door down? This is Bing Crosby again. You know the greatness of America, and the future of our nation depends on all of us. America's destiny rests in the hands of every individual, regardless of race or creed, and in every town and city throughout the nation. During recent years, major crime has been on the upswing. At the end of the last war, age 17 led all the other age groups in arrest for serious crimes. More and more children, it seems, are being led towards crime as parents throw away responsibility. I think selfishness is too often the keynote of the day, and materialism the inspiration for living. God, in many instances, is not accepted in the home, and concepts of morality have been relegated to the junk heap, it seems. I wonder can a nation exist, void of all religious thought and action? Can we have internal peace without morality? Can we build homes without God, or have worthy parents who don't know and don't practice His teachings? The key to these problems is to life itself as God, as He is man's first need in His final goal. Our nation, it seems, to me is sadly in need of a rebirth of the simple life, a return to the days when God was a part of each household, and when families arose in the morning with a prayer on their lips, and they ended the day by gathering together to place themselves in His care. If there's a hope for the future of America, if there's to be peace and happiness in our homes, then we as a nation, we've just got to return to God into the practice of daily family prayer. Certainly the greatest thing we as individuals can do for ourselves, for our country would be to keep our families together in peace and in happiness. There's no better way of doing our part for home life in America than by re-establishing the daily practice of family prayer in our homes, because families that pray together stay together. More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. Charlotte Lawrence, Harry Bartell, and Alice Backes. The script was written for Family Theater by John T. Kelly and directed by Robert Hero Sullivan, with music composed and conducted by Harry Zimmerman. 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 George Crowell 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 Clipper Ship starring Jean Lockhart. Dorothy Warren-Scholl will be your hostess. Join us, won't you? Family Theater's 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.