 Family Theatre presents Regis Toomey and Jean Lockhart. From Hollywood, the Mutual Network in Cooperation with Family Theatre presents Never Let the Sun Go Down starring Regis Toomey. And now, here is your host, Jean Lockhart. Thank you, Tony LaFranco. 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. Now to our transcribed drama, Never Let the Sun Go Down starring Regis Toomey as Doran. My name is Doran. You called about my wife. Oh, yes, Mr. Doran. What's this about an accident? Is she badly hurt? May I see her? I'm afraid not, Mr. Doran. She's in surgery now, and I can't really give you much of an idea when she'll be out. It's not serious, is it? I'm afraid I can't tell you that, Mr. Doran. What do you mean? You can't tell me. Well, I mean, I just don't know. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to... I'm just... I know. If you'll go into the waiting room, perhaps I can find out for you. Well, thank you. Or the waiting room... Just cross the hall and one door down. Well, thank you. Nurse. Yes? Do you think it'll take very long? I don't think so, Mr. Doran. Thank you. Oh, God. Let her be all right. You've got to let her be all right. Hello, Dad. Oh, John. They didn't tell me anything. Do you know what happened? I don't know. I wasn't with her, so I... I guess she was all alone. I'm Dr. Vinnie. How is she, Doctor? Sit down, Mr. Doran. You, uh... You're her son? Yes, sir. Oh, she's going to be all right. Isn't she, Doctor? I don't know, Mr. Doran. Come on. Let's all sit down. The nurse... The nurse said she was in surgery. Yes, that's right. Ordinarily, we would wait for some authorization from next to kin before any type of operation, but with your wife, the nature of her injuries just wouldn't permit any time to be lost. Oh, dear. It's that bad, huh? Yes, I'm afraid so. Sir, do you know what happened? The police ambulance attendant said it was a freeway accident. Apparently, she was coming back from the market baskets and paper bags full of food in the car. There were no other cars involved in the collision, but they said something about her car probably being forced over to the side into the light standard. That's what happened. Her car hit a light standard. Well, you said something about the nature of her injuries, Doctor. Just how bad off is she? As I said, Mr. Doran, I don't know. She has a couple of fractures. One of them, a depressed fracture of the skull. A fractured skull? It's in the occipital region, and that's not good. That's what you might call, well, the switchboard area. It's where a great number of nerve trunks cross on their way to various parts of the body, and that's why I say I don't know whether she'll be all right or not. You mean she may die, Doctor? She may. When will you know? After the operation, we'll probably know one way or the other. It's up to the surgeon. He'll have to raise the depressed area to find out just how much real damage has been done. See, I was in an emergency when they brought her in. The way it looked to me, it's possible there won't be any real damage. But the fracture is in a critical area, so I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you. Thank you, Doctor. I have to get back now. Oh, by the way, if you would sign the release form I mentioned... Of course, of course, Doctor. We did kind of stick our necks out, you know. Some hospitals won't, but it looked to me like a matter of life or death. Doctor, I don't know whether it makes any difference, but my wife and I are, well, separated. Legally? We were to see a lawyer tomorrow. Then I don't think it makes any difference. I'll ask the nurse at the desk to get you the proper form. Thank you, Doctor. Just hope everything turns out all right. I'll let you know as soon as we know anything. Thank you very much, sir. Well, I guess we may as well sit down. Do you want some coffee, John? No, thanks. I wonder how long until we know, I mean... I don't know. Now that he's gone, I can think of a hundred questions I wished I'd ask him. It wouldn't change anything. No. You're working, you said. You didn't quit school. After-school job. At a garage. Oh, mechanical work. Oh, that's good. Good. You always liked that kind of thing. Now, I remember when you first asked your mother and me for a car. Your mother and me. You know how old you were? No. Five. Five years old, and it seems like only... John. John, look at me. No, don't turn your face away. Look at me. Just leave me alone. John, boy, you don't want me around. I'll wait out in the corridor. No, it's not that, Bob. No, I think I see what. John, you don't have to be ashamed. I wish I could cry. I don't know when you hit a certain age, you just can't anymore. Unless you do it inside. Go on. Go ahead, maybe it'll help. No. Cigarette? No, thanks. I thought maybe you might have taken it up. You've only... You've only been gone a little over a month. At night it seems like a lot longer. I wonder when we'll hear something. What's the matter? Nothing. You're looking at me as if I were a stranger. I'm sorry. Something you want to say, son. Something about your mother and me. Well, you seem so concerned about her. Oh, I am. Then... Then what? If you felt that way, why couldn't you make a go of it, dad? I don't know. Just somewhere along the way where mother and I just ran out of gas, I guess. It's hard to say just where. Fights. Really, nobody's fault. Just fights. And, you know, I... I can't seem to remember what any single one of them was about. Seem a little silly. Right now it does to me. Seventeen years. Do you know something, John? We made a deal about fights your mother and I when we were first married. We'd only been able to live up to that agreement we made seventeen years ago. We'd just come back from our honeymoon. Two weeks at Big Bear. Two wonderful weeks. Then back to town at the house you live in now. But then it was a new house. Everything in it was new, and I carried Margaret my new bride over the threshold. Just as a threshold, not the whole floor. Custom? Why do I care about custom? Dan Dora never does anything halfway. Anything? Anything. Now hold on tight. No, no, here. Use mine. It's right in my purse. No, no. I got it. Well, here we are. No, Dan, don't pull me down. I just want to look at our house from right here. You like it as well as when we picked it out? Oh, better. Much better. Oh, better. Much better. May I put you down now? Am I too heavy for you? No, not you, my love. You're as light as a feather, but that hat you wear is getting a mite heavy for me. Dan, you nut. There you go. Oh, it looks even bigger from down here. Oh, Dan, do you suppose we'll ever be able to furnish this great big house? Great big house? Seven rooms. Well, you'll think it's great big when we start to buy all the furniture we need. What, for instance? We won't be able to use my mother's old dining room table forever. And we'll need a hutch to hold our china. I'd put that right there. And I think we should have a bookcase running the length of that wall. And there's not a thing in the spare bedroom. Hey, hey, hold on, wait a minute. Whatever we need, we'll get. It may take us 20 years, but whatever we need, we'll get. Oh, Dan, I love you. The only thing this house really needs is you. Are you sure? We'll be in it a long time. As far as I'm concerned. Dan. Let's never fight. Fight? The first day back from our honeymoon, and you say a thing like that, the very idea is ridiculous. We'll never fight. No, Dan, let's be serious for a minute. Please? Okay. Well, we don't think it would ever happen now, but other people do it. My mother and father probably thought they'd never fight. I see what you mean. All right, honey, we'll never fight. That's not enough. What I mean is, where we may have our differences, we wouldn't be human if we didn't. And we wouldn't be interesting to each other. Or interesting to each other. But what I mean is, let's talk them out, those differences. Never let them build into a fight. All right, Margaret, all right. New house, new life. I think it's a good idea. If we do have arguments. If we do, we'll finish in the same day and never let the sun go down on any disagreement, Margaret. I promise you that. I guess it's part of being newly married. Agreements like that. And I'll bet every young man who's ever gotten married has made a promise like that to his bride. Probably, John, you'll do the same someday. It seems to me to be a good idea. Oh, it is. In theory, John, it's a great idea. The promises like that are based on reason. You see what I mean? No. Well, when you're having an argument, when you lose your temper, reason's the first thing that goes. It's just not possible to deal with a problem reasonably. It's because you... Well, you become emotionally involved and reason and emotion just aren't compatible. Well... Did you try? I think so. Yes. We both tried. Through a long time, we tried hard. Did you gave up? No, not exactly. Things like that just seem to get lost somewhere along the way. They fall away from you. They just don't endure. The love you feel for each other changes and you and your ideas change with it. When you're going together, even when you're engaged, you're both keeping the best foot forward. You're trying to sustain an illusion of perfection. And because you're both wrapped up in a cozy warmth of the first blush of love, you both secretly believe that the illusion is reality. You see what I mean? Yeah, I think I do. It doesn't last because it can't last. I guess it starts to go for the woman when she finds herself washing her husband's socks or his whiskers stubble out of the washbasin. For him, when he begins to get tired of fighting wet stockings hanging over the tub, or seeing his wife with curlers in her hair at night. Does that sound shallow? A little. It is shallow. And at first, you're pretty violently disillusioned. You're feeling like, well, like crying out, you let me to believe you were perfect and now I find you're just a human being like everybody else. Sounds like a pretty grim picture. It would be if it stopped there. But after you've been married for about a year, then you find out what love really is. You find out that what you've got isn't what you started out with, that it's really a lot better, that you've got more than you're bargained for. It's like ordering beer and getting champagne. Yeah, not all consuming fire of the beginning over a period of years. It could be pretty hard to live with. Fortunately, it cools down to let something much better, comfortable, abiding warmth. That's really when you start getting your individuality back again. Oh. Start getting your individuality back? Mm-hmm. Husband and wife may indeed be one flesh, but they're two minds. When you're slow in learning that, well, that's when the trouble begins. I... I think maybe that's where it started for your mother and I. Why do you say that? Remember a few minutes ago, I said I couldn't remember the subject yet. I can remember now. It might even have been the first being here in this hospital made me think of it. In the hospital? Yes, when you were born. About a year after we were married, I'd spent the night in a waiting room very much like this one. At five in the morning, you were born. They called me and went to the nursery and looked you over. Is she... Is she all right, doctor? She's finished my expected woman to be after the equivalent of a major operation. How'd you like your son? Oh, he's fine. Just fine. But those little marks... They'll all be gone before you know it. You know, getting born is hard work. You have to expect even a sturdy son like yours to pick up a bruise or two in the process. Yeah, I guess so. So everything's all right, huh? Do a little worrying, didn't you? Maybe a little. Well, that's natural enough. But to answer your question, yes, everything's all right. Here we are. Wait a second, doctor. I just wanted to ask... Well... She wanted to be fully conscious when the baby was born. You don't have to tell me. She was. Not that it's really important. Well, it can be pretty important to a woman, Mr. Dorn, as to whether Mrs. Dorn was fully conscious. I'm afraid I don't know. You don't know? She had a caudal anesthetic. It certainly wouldn't have affected her consciousness, but we sometimes give other drugs to lessen the possibility of shock. Different people react differently to some of them. Other drugs? Her and your wife's case was demoral. Incidentally, one of its effects is to make it very difficult for a person to remember anything for any length of time. So if your wife acts like she had one too many, you'll know what it is. Someone to see you, Mr. Dorn. Hi, honey. Dan. You look just fine. Oh. Oh, miss. My mouth tastes funny. I'll have the nurse get you something for that. Oh, Dan, did you see the baby? Not ten minutes ago. Complete inspection. They even let me listen to his heart myself. With a... What do you call it? A microscope. Yes, Maggie. I did that even before he was born. That's right, Mr. Dorn. Well, he... he sounds just fine. You really saw him? Oh, he's beautiful, honey. And he's perfect. Do you feel all right? Wonderful. Just wonderful. Is the baby all right? Oh, just perfect. A little red, maybe, but perfect. It's funny. It's so funny. I waited all that time. And we've been here all night, and I saw... I saw... What was I saying? Something's funny. Oh, yes. I can't remember if it was a boy or a girl. Isn't it silly? It's a boy, honey. Seven and a half pounds. Isn't that nice. Have you seen him, Dan? Yes, Maggie. I've seen him. Why are you laughing? Well, that's the third time you've asked me that. It is? What's wrong with me? It'll take you a little time for the medicine to wear off, Mr. Dorn. That's all. My mouth tastes funny. Oh, Dan, I saw him right when he was born. Sure, you're dead, honey. Didn't I, Doctor? She didn't close her eyes the whole time. You know, it might be a good idea. If she did that now, your husband can come back during a visit now this evening. What time is that? I believe it's from 7 to 8.30. You can check with the floor nurse. Does he have to go? I think it would be best. Well, I'll come back this evening with flowers for you and maybe an electric train for Maggie, a boy. I'll see you at 7. Maybe by then I'll remember and I can tell you all about it. I saw him right when he was born. Didn't I tell you? All right, honey. All right, I'll see you at 7. Bye. Bye, Maggie. By the time you come back, that drug effect will be all gone. She thinks she saw the whole thing. Maybe because she wanted to so much. Maybe, Mr. Dorn, maybe she really did. I should have realized how important it was to her, but I didn't. And for some reason or other, I just couldn't leave it alone. Maybe it sounds like a foolish thing to argue about, but we did argue about it. Maybe because I was a little unhappy with myself for not having a bigger part, more of the spotlight in the birth of my son. Maybe because of the love one being has for always being right. I'd rather be right than president. Yeah. Someday I'd like to meet the guy who thought that went up. Sometimes the wrongest thing you can do is to be right when you should just be quiet. Besides, it didn't really matter. But you stopped arguing about that. After a while, we just stopped talking about it. Like me being a member of the Lions. You mean the service club? I'd tell her it was good for business and I'd point out all the wonderful charity work done by service organizations. But to her, it was just a boys' club for overgrown boys. She worked me over pretty hard on that one. After a couple of years, I just stopped going to the luncheons, taking part in club functions and we stopped talking about it. Another tabooed subject on the list. In 17 years, a list can get pretty long, Johnny. Yeah, I guess it can. After a while, there's not much of anything you can talk about without starting a quarrel. Then, well, you know the rest. But why? It's so senseless. Maybe because, well, being husband and wife, being one flesh doesn't seem enough, so you try to be one mind. Like I said, married people have to learn to respect each other's individuality. Tom, did you ever sit down and talk to a mother like this? I mean, like we've been doing? No. But why not? Well, in the last couple of years, we've just sort of lost touch. Now, communications break down, you might call it. Before that, there just didn't seem to be any need for it. After that, it was impossible. So you left? I left. I didn't have anything to do, but it didn't seem like it at the time, and apparently it was all right with her. I... I just don't get it. Get what? How are you going to love somebody for so long, and then just stop? Tonight I found out you can't. Ever since I left, I've been thinking about it, and tonight I found out for sure. Go on. I never really bought the idea for good. Maybe that was it. All I know is that ever since I got that call that your mother had been in an accident, I've... I've been in a kind of panic. You know what I mean? Scared to death that I was really going to lose her, that I'd never see her again. I'm still in a panic. A man shouldn't have to lose someone to know how much they really mean to him. Oh, well, I know that if she comes out all right, she probably won't want me any more than she did when I left. But still... Oh, she's got to be all right, John. She's got to be all right. Let's go see if the nurse has heard anything. Wow. That's been a long time. They should know something by now. Oh, I hope so. Say there's a Mr... Oh, fine, I'll tell him. Nurse. Oh, Mr. Dorn. There hasn't been any word. I was just talking to surgery. They're finished and they asked me to tell you Dr. is on his way down now. Did they say anything about my mother's condition? Is she all right? I believe that's Dr. Vinnie coming now. He'll be able to tell you. Well, thank you. Dr. Mr. Dorn, just finished. Is she going to be all right? Well, there hasn't been time for all the tests to be completed, but I think she'll be all right. She'll live. She'll live. I'm happy to say we found no real damage. It's a nervous tissue. Her reflexes are being tested now to see if there might have been some damage we didn't find, but I think they'll come out all right. Thank God. Mr. Dorn, did you say you and your wife were separated? Yes, that's right, doctor. And you're her son? Yes, sir. Well, if you'd like to sit with her until she comes out of the anesthetic, would it really be all right? Oh, more than just all right. She needs you. In fact, she was calling for you through most of the operation. She was? If your name's Dan. That's my name. Your name? She was...she was calling for Dan. That's the name. Maybe you'd better both sit with her. Looks like I've got another chance, Johnny. I hope so, Dad. Or there's love. There's hope. Come on, son. This is Gene Lockhart again. The other day, I saw a blind man walking along with a white cane in his hand. It made me think of the misfortunes of other people. It brought back many memories. I thought of a man whom I know who broke his back about 30 years ago and who has been bedridden ever since. I thought of an athlete who was stricken with polio to adjust himself to life with cheerfulness and resignation. And I thought of many people suffering in hospitals from incurable diseases and of disabled soldiers who made heroic sacrifices for us that we might continue our way of life. And I thought of people confined in mental hospitals. Compared to the sufferings and deprivations of these people, I asked myself, what are my sufferings and trials? Not many, that was sure. But despite the fact that my mind was deep in thought about suffering, I experienced an indescribable peace and happiness. I did not know then, but now, as I look back, I realize that I was praying. That's what prayer does for the individual. It makes one forget himself and think of others. It gives him an outlook on life entirely different than that we had before he prayed. It makes him sympathize with the sufferings and sorrows of others. It makes him ashamed of his own selfishness. It gives him the power to think the way he should and to love the way he should. To think what God thinks and to love what God loves. It fills his soul with peace and happiness. That's what prayer does for the family. The members of the family God's outlook on life so that the sorrows of one are the sorrows of all and the joys of one are the joys of all. It keeps them united in peace and in harmony. And that is why Family Theatre urges all of you to pray as families for the family that prays together stays together. More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. From Hollywood Family Theatre has brought you transcribe Never Let the Sun Go Down starring Regis Toomey Gene Lockhart was your host. Others in our cast were Sam Edwards Joyce McCluskey Barney Phillips and Charlotte Lawrence. The script was written and directed for Family Theatre by Robert Hugh O'Sullivan with music composed and conducted by Henry Mancini. This series of Family Theatre broadcasts is made possible by the thousands of you in this type of program. By the mutual network which has responded to this need and by the hundreds of stars of state, screen and radio who give so unselfishly of their time and talent to appear on our Family Theatre stage. To them and to you, our humble thanks. This is Tony Lofrano expressing the wish of Family Theatre that the blessing of God may be upon you and your home and inviting you to join us next week when Family Theatre will present Hostage starring John Lund. Hildegard will be your hostess. Join us, won't you? Family Theatre has 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.