August 13, 2025 • 29 mins
A sitcom that portrays the everyday life of a typical American family, focusing on the father's guidance and wisdom. The show combines humor with moral lessons.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Now listen to Father Knows Best Transcribe, starring Robert Young
as Father, Welcome to Springfield and another half hour visit
(00:33):
with the folks in the white frame House on Maple Street.
Sit back and enjoy life for the Andersons Kathy, Bud, Betty, Margaret,
and Jim, as the head of this typical American household,
again sets out to prove that Father knows Best.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Creditors declared Benjamin Franklin have better memories than debtors, and
creditors are a superstitious saying great observers of set days
and times. Jim Anderson is at this moment experiencing confirmation
of Franklin's theory as he sits at the desk in
the dam of the White Frame House on Maple Street
and checks through the mail, consisting mainly of those never ending,
(01:22):
always punctual bills like this.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Milk bill twenty four to seventy five. Margaret, isn't this
a pretty big milk bill?
Speaker 4 (01:33):
Well, that bill includes better too.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Oh, no, wonder gosh, another bill from the cleaners. Seems
like I just paid the last one a couple of
days ago.
Speaker 5 (01:43):
Money thirteen dollars? Are we carrying? Neatness? A little too far.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
About the only thing we've been sending out to the
cleaners lately is your suits.
Speaker 5 (01:55):
Oh well, a man has to look decent at work. Mommy, Look,
I got my old clothes box just about filled.
Speaker 6 (02:04):
Can you help me find something else to go in it?
Speaker 4 (02:07):
Well, let me think.
Speaker 5 (02:09):
Cas, what's this about an old clothes box.
Speaker 6 (02:11):
It's for our Sunday school class.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
We're having a drive.
Speaker 6 (02:14):
Could he help some people that need clothes?
Speaker 5 (02:17):
Could you get our name on that.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
List, Dorothy, I didn't say you could have this dress.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
I still wear it, if you don't mind kidding. I'd
like my sports shirt bag. I'd like to wear it
at least twice before you give it away.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
I think you better put these things back and start
all over again. Oh shucks, Where else can I look
for old clothes?
Speaker 5 (02:41):
You were looking in the right place.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
It just happens we're still wearing them.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
Try the attic and the garage.
Speaker 6 (02:51):
Oh all right.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
If any of the things need buttons are patching, I'll
fix them up.
Speaker 5 (02:56):
Okay, I've gotta get back to these bills. Say here's
a letter for you, Margaret.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Oh well, it's from your aunt Ethel.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
Oh good, I've been expecting that.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
I haven't thought of her in years. Oh, how she
distrusted me. She was sure you were marrying as strictly
no good character.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Oh it wasn't as bad as all that.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Why is she writing to you to find out if
I've deserted you and left you destitute?
Speaker 4 (03:23):
No, she's just stopping in for a visit. What she's
passing through on her way to Zion National Park. She
wrote last week and wanted to know when would be
a good time to visit us. And I wrote back
and told her to wait a couple of weeks.
Speaker 5 (03:37):
Should have made that a couple of years.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
I wanted to have time to get the house fixed up.
That's why is that the dove important chairs out to
be recovered?
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Oh well when she decided to come, Oh my goodness,
what's the matter.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
Did this letter just come today?
Speaker 5 (03:53):
Well?
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Yes, uh, I'm not going to think of it. I've
been carrying this mail around for a day or so.
Oh Jim, Jim, Well what's the trouble?
Speaker 4 (04:03):
She says she's going to be here the fifth, that's
today today. No, dear, if I'd only known this, I'd
never have set the furniture out. Why didn't she wait
a couple of weeks, like I suggested my letter.
Speaker 5 (04:16):
Well, you know, Aunt Ethel.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
I guess I'll just have to explain to her where
the furniture is.
Speaker 5 (04:21):
She won't believe it.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Explaining anything to that woman is like squirting a Seltzer
bottle at the ocean.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Oh dear, this would happen.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
I'll never forget the first time I saw her. She
drove that Piros arrow of hers up in front of
your house and went inside. I came along, saw the
car starting to roll down the hill, so I jumped
on the running board and set the brake. Just then
she came tearing out of the house. And to this
day she's convinced that I was stealing her car.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
I wonder if I could borrow some furniture.
Speaker 5 (04:55):
I explained till I was blue in the.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
Face, just to Davenport would help.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
He just kept saying, oh, yes, yes, of course I understand.
But you knew darn Welsh didn't believe a word of it.
Speaker 7 (05:06):
Mom.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
I think I'll run across the street and see if
missus Davis will lend us hers.
Speaker 7 (05:11):
Mom, what do you want me to? Oh? Hello, Dan,
you home?
Speaker 3 (05:20):
No, I'm bear hunting in the African velvet. Why are
you dragging a shovel through the house.
Speaker 8 (05:26):
I just came in to ask Mom where she wanted
me to dig that trench for the sweet peas.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
But I told you I wanted the trench dug alongside
the back fence, right between those two steaks I put
in the ground.
Speaker 7 (05:38):
That's what I thought, but I wanted to be sure.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
Jim, I'm going to run over to missus Davis's. I'll
be right back.
Speaker 5 (05:43):
Okay. Oh here, but don't sit down. You've got work
to do outside.
Speaker 7 (05:49):
Oh gee, Dan, I've got to have a little rest.
Digging ditches is hard work.
Speaker 5 (05:55):
But you haven't done it yet.
Speaker 7 (05:57):
I know, but I might be too tired of it
after I get it done.
Speaker 5 (06:03):
Well, why don't you get out there and see?
Speaker 7 (06:06):
Okay, what are you doing?
Speaker 5 (06:08):
Dad?
Speaker 3 (06:09):
I'm trying to pay a few bills here, but I'm
running out of checks. I'll get that shovel out of
here and get it to working. Mother.
Speaker 7 (06:17):
How much do you think this digging job ought to pay?
Speaker 6 (06:20):
I don't know, mother, Oh, hello, father for his mother across.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
The street borrowing a davenport for Aunt Ethel What and
don't ask me to explain that what are you doing
carrying around an armful of weeds?
Speaker 6 (06:35):
Well, these aren't weeds, they're vitamins.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Oh, you can buy them right on the bush now, huh.
Speaker 6 (06:41):
Oh, I didn't buy these. They're carrot tops and they're
simply reeking with vitamins. And Missus Liggett was gonna throw
them away.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Think of that.
Speaker 5 (06:50):
I hope word doesn't get around.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
And my daughter goes about picking up old carrot tops
for her father's supper.
Speaker 6 (06:57):
Yeah, father, what are we having for dinner tonight?
Speaker 5 (07:01):
How should I know? Ask your mother?
Speaker 6 (07:03):
Probably a lot of cook stuff.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Well, I don't anticipate sitting down to a plate of
raw pork chops.
Speaker 6 (07:11):
Why didn't say pork chops? We should eat a lot
of raw vegetables, especially leafy ones.
Speaker 7 (07:18):
I like leafy potatoes.
Speaker 6 (07:26):
Ralph said that we Oh it's Ralph again. Well Ralph
is a very intellectual young man. He's utterly crawling with brains.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Oh I knew there was something wrong with him.
Speaker 6 (07:43):
Ralph says, we're all dying of malnutrition and don't know.
Speaker 5 (07:46):
It because we're not eating enough carrot tops.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
Well, I checked with Missus Davis and mother.
Speaker 6 (07:51):
Can we have something raw for dinner?
Speaker 3 (07:54):
What. It seems that Ralph has taken over our kitchen
to save us from starvation.
Speaker 7 (08:00):
Else full of vitamins.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
But haven't you gone out to dig that sweet peach
wrench yet?
Speaker 6 (08:07):
Well?
Speaker 8 (08:07):
I was going to, but Dad hasn't figured out how
much he's gonna pay me for it.
Speaker 5 (08:12):
When did I say I was going to pay you?
Speaker 4 (08:15):
My goodness? Do you have to be paid for every
little thing you do around here?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Mommy?
Speaker 4 (08:20):
Seems to me you'd do it just to help a little.
Speaker 6 (08:22):
Mommy, I got my old clothes box filled?
Speaker 4 (08:25):
Can I take it over?
Speaker 6 (08:26):
Leave it at the church?
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Hey?
Speaker 6 (08:28):
What's my sweater doing in there?
Speaker 4 (08:30):
Give me that, don't take give me my jeans?
Speaker 5 (08:33):
Get my hunting jacket out of there?
Speaker 4 (08:37):
Ah, hack, the box is empty again, Kathy, I told
you not to take things out of our closets.
Speaker 6 (08:44):
I couldn't find anything anyplace else.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
Well, go around the neighborhood, ask around at different houses.
Oh okay, I wonder where.
Speaker 7 (08:56):
She found Dad's hunting jacket. I hunted for that all
less summer bud.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
Please go out and dig that trench.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Well, if I was gonna get paid, how much do
you think the job would be worth?
Speaker 5 (09:09):
It's worth fifty cents to me to get rid of you.
Speaker 7 (09:12):
Okay, it's a deal.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
Mother, What is it, Betty?
Speaker 6 (09:18):
We've got to watch our nutritional intake.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
Well, I don't have time now, Betty. Aunt Ethel is coming.
Speaker 6 (09:25):
What are we having for dinner tonight?
Speaker 4 (09:28):
I don't know yet, but I want to plan something
extra special. Maybe you can go out and start peeling
some potatoes.
Speaker 6 (09:34):
Peeling them, mother, we've got to stop peeling away all
the minerals and vitamins.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
Well, all right, put them in the oven and bake them. Then, well,
I'll put them in the oven. But Ralph isn't gonna
like it.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Well, we'll throw Ralph a raw artichoke next time he
comes to Ralph.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
I wonder what would be good to have for dinner tonight?
Could we afford steaks?
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Afford anything that will impress aunt Ethel? The sky's the limit.
How did you make out with missus Davis?
Speaker 4 (10:07):
Well, she was perfectly willing to let us have the Davenport,
but honestly, it's in worse condition than ours was.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Well, maybe we can keep her out of the living
room as much as possible.
Speaker 5 (10:17):
It'll work out, I hope so.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
Well, i'd better get out in the kitchen.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Oh no, what's the matter. Here's a second notice from
the gas and electric company. I paid this bill a
couple of weeks ago. What's the matter with that outfit anyway?
Speaker 4 (10:34):
Well, don't get so excited about it.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Just some little error, but there's no excuse for it,
and I don't like their attitude. They say if it's
not paid within twenty four hours, they'll shut off both
the gas and electricity.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
Well, my stars, don't let that happen tonight of all nights.
You'd better drive down there and pay it right now.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
I've already paid it.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
We'll pay it again. This is no time to argue.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Nothing doing when you know your rights, stick to your guns.
I'll just call them up. Hand me the phone book.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
No, Jim, don't do anything that's going to get our
gas and lights turned off. And ethel will probably be
here any minute.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Don't worry that turning off business is just a threat.
With an old customer like us, they wouldn't dare turn
them off.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
Mother. What is it, Eddie?
Speaker 6 (11:19):
Nothing works, the OVID will go on, the hot water's.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Cold, and there no lights, no gas, no lights.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
Well, old customer, what now?
Speaker 1 (11:45):
The Anderson's will be back in a moment. It used
to be said that the pen was mightier than the sword,
But today we have found that the pen is might
here than the radio, broadcast, the commissar, and all the
other means by which the Soviet Union is and spreading
anti American propaganda throughout Europe and Asia. When the pen
is in the hand of friend, writing to friend, of son,
(12:08):
writing to father of cousin, writing to cousin, when it
tells the simple, honest truth about the way Americans live, work,
and think, it can undermine a mountainous barrage of false propaganda.
Keep the truth about America alive in Europe and Asia
through letters to friends and relatives abroad.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
When you know your right, stick to your guns, a
worthy motto which Jim Anderson has accepted and even given
a modern and practical application as follows. If you've paid
the light and gas bill once, don't pay it again.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Ah.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Yes, the white frame house on Naples Street has become
the watch tower of principal and rugged determination. It is
also a watch tower with no gas or lights. With
Margaret's aunt ethel do for a visit this shortage of facility.
It seems to have Jim and Margaret. I'm the horns
of a fair sized dilemma like this.
Speaker 5 (13:17):
If there's anything that burns me up when I pay
my bills on.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
Time, I don't run the power company.
Speaker 5 (13:23):
It's a matter of principle, Margaret. When I have these
stubs to.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
Prove it a dead where's the shovel?
Speaker 5 (13:29):
I've got it right here in my checkbook. What do
you want, Bud?
Speaker 8 (13:37):
I think I left it there in the den.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
For goodness sake, Where are you bad?
Speaker 8 (13:42):
Here outside the window, there's the shovel leaning against the land.
Speaker 5 (13:48):
Oh that's a perfect place for the shovel. You're gonna
be neating it dead well, I.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Might want to spade up the living room.
Speaker 8 (13:57):
You're kidding, aren't you?
Speaker 7 (14:03):
Of course?
Speaker 5 (14:03):
Bud, come and get it now, Margaret.
Speaker 8 (14:06):
If I've added to me through the window, will your dad?
Speaker 4 (14:10):
But we're trying to talk in here. Besides, we can't
hand it through the screen.
Speaker 8 (14:14):
I'll get a screwdriver and take the screen off.
Speaker 5 (14:21):
Bud, come in the house and get the shovel.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
Okay, Jim, I should be starting dinner.
Speaker 5 (14:29):
All right.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
I'll call a power company, I'll pay the bills. Wait
till I go down there. Tomorrow morning.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
If it weren't for your aunt Ethel, I wouldn't do it.
I'd sooner. Hello.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Uh, this is James Anderson, six oh seven Maple Street.
Our gas and lights were shut off by mistake. Will
you send a man out right away to turn them on?
Not tomorrow morning, tonight, right now.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
Daddy, he's telephoning.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
Well, this is urgent. It's an emergency. Oh thank you.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
What did they say, Dear?
Speaker 5 (15:04):
All the men are out. They're going to get somebody
here as soon as they can.
Speaker 6 (15:08):
Look, Daddy, I got some clothes already from the fillus
this kidding.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Now, let's get things spruced up, a little hiding up
the front yard.
Speaker 6 (15:16):
I got a fir muff and a pair of overshoes
and some old football pants.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Well that's gonna make a beautiful opposit for somebody.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
Now, run along, Angel.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
I'm gonna get a last stup, boy, Margaret, What time
does Anne Ethel's train get in this evening?
Speaker 4 (15:34):
She isn't coming on the train, Dear, she's driving.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Wouldn't you know that, of all days ant Ethel would
pick this particular day.
Speaker 5 (15:41):
I'll bet she ignored your letter on purpose plans to
sneak up on me.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
Oh, it's not that, dear.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
She predicted I'd never amount to a hill of beans.
Wouldn't she be tickled to find us flat broke?
Speaker 4 (15:52):
Don't be silly.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Well, I'm gonna pull a surprise on the old girl.
We'll solve the living room furniture problem and the gas
and lights with one brilliant strategic move. We'll take Andy
out to dinner the most expensive place in town. I'll
really splurge, Jim. I'll buy her an orchid corsage. We'll
go to the theater, get the best seats, Jim, Lady,
We'll take her to a night club, ring side table.
(16:16):
I'll have the orchestra play her favorite tune. Money will
flow like water. I'll show Anne Ethel how wrong she
was about me.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
Jim. How much money do you have with you?
Speaker 5 (16:27):
Oh, I've got to, for Pete's sake, thirty nine cents.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
If you're going to have money flowing like water, it
isn't going to be very deep.
Speaker 5 (16:39):
I forgot to cash a check today. Do you have
any money I.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
Bought groceries today. I have twelve cents.
Speaker 5 (16:45):
Margaret, there must be some money in the house someplace.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
Well, Kathy dropped a nickel down the furnace last winter.
Speaker 7 (16:54):
Betty, I'm father.
Speaker 5 (16:56):
Do you have any money?
Speaker 3 (16:57):
No?
Speaker 6 (16:58):
But we have some maple syrup.
Speaker 5 (17:04):
Maple syrup.
Speaker 6 (17:05):
What do you want honey for?
Speaker 5 (17:09):
I didn't say honey, I said money.
Speaker 6 (17:12):
Oh no, I had to chip in to help Ralph
buy some noose bark clubs.
Speaker 5 (17:18):
Oh great, dear.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
Maybe Ed Davis could cash a check for you.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
That's out of town and I don't even have a check.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Hey, Mom, where are you bad?
Speaker 8 (17:27):
At the window? There's a car on in front, and
a lady looking at the front of our house with binoculars.
Wat's this She looks like my history teacher, only tougher.
Speaker 5 (17:46):
It's Aunt Ethel with binoculars.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
She's nearsighted, probably looking for our house number.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Oh no, Bud, get in the backyard, Margaret. You go
to the door, But dear, don't get excited.
Speaker 5 (17:58):
Margaret. We'll simply act as if everything is perfectly all right.
We have a fairly nice house in there.
Speaker 8 (18:05):
On the porch, pushing the doorbell, but nothing happens, no electricity.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
Go to the door, Jim, I have to get this
apron off.
Speaker 5 (18:16):
But Margaret, all right, I'm not afraid of her. Well,
I have.
Speaker 9 (18:24):
That though it broke my glasses in Baltimore?
Speaker 4 (18:27):
Is that you James?
Speaker 6 (18:29):
Sure?
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Sure, come on in, daddie, Hi, I swear you look
younger than you did twenty years ago.
Speaker 9 (18:35):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (18:37):
Let me take your coat, Daddy.
Speaker 10 (18:39):
Well, you haven't aged much, James. Of course, you never
were one to worry.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Well, I haven't much to worry about anymore. We've been
pretty lucky.
Speaker 4 (18:51):
It takes a lot of money to keep up a
house like this.
Speaker 6 (18:54):
I suppose you working now, James.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
Oh yes, I'm in business for myself, have my own
insurance office.
Speaker 9 (19:07):
Well, I suppose it'll lead to something better.
Speaker 4 (19:12):
Well, Margaret, dear, bless your heart, it's so good to
see you.
Speaker 9 (19:16):
Oh my, you look well, Margaret.
Speaker 10 (19:18):
Of course I always said you were the prettiest of
all the girls from your mother's side of the family.
Speaker 4 (19:24):
Don't you think Jim looks well? Landing?
Speaker 9 (19:26):
Yes, and he says he's doing well too.
Speaker 4 (19:30):
Oh, yes, Jim's done very well. You rent this house, do.
Speaker 9 (19:34):
You, James?
Speaker 5 (19:36):
Oh no, no, it's ours. We bought it.
Speaker 9 (19:38):
Oh well, you changed. I guess.
Speaker 10 (19:45):
The last time I saw you was before you were married,
and you just pawned your saxophone to pay your room rent.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Oh it's pretty hard now to believe that anything like
that ever happened to me.
Speaker 4 (20:01):
Well, what would you like to do? Anie? Drove all
away from Cleveland today.
Speaker 10 (20:07):
I'd like a nice hot bath.
Speaker 5 (20:13):
Why don't we all get in the car and take
a drive around town.
Speaker 9 (20:17):
I think i'd like a nice hot bath.
Speaker 4 (20:20):
First, we have a little problem, Antie.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
You see, the hot water heater broke down just this afternoon.
Speaker 5 (20:29):
The man's on his way out to take care of it.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
I'm awfully sorry.
Speaker 9 (20:33):
Well, don't worry about it.
Speaker 5 (20:35):
I'm glad you understand it.
Speaker 9 (20:36):
Just heat up a kettle of water on the kitchen stove.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
Just a minute.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
The trouble with the water heater is the gas. You know,
for some reason, the gas isn't coming through the pipes.
Speaker 5 (20:51):
No gas pipe seem to be stopped up someplace.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
The man will be here any minute.
Speaker 6 (20:58):
Well, father, I guess what ad some money for you?
Speaker 5 (21:06):
Oh, Betty, a whole dollar.
Speaker 4 (21:12):
What's this? An Ethel?
Speaker 10 (21:14):
This is our older daughter, Betty. She's a pretty girl.
Speaker 6 (21:20):
Oh how do you do? Mother's told me so many
nice things about you, Aunt Ethel.
Speaker 4 (21:25):
Really, Oh, here's.
Speaker 6 (21:27):
The money, father, It's all I could find in my purse,
but you're welcome to.
Speaker 5 (21:30):
It, Princess Waite.
Speaker 6 (21:32):
Oh and I couldn't use the stove, so I'm making
a cold salad. All of those carrot tops. I found.
Speaker 9 (21:46):
A carrot tops well an ethyl.
Speaker 6 (21:49):
You see, this is going to be the best meal
we've had in weeks. You're all the.
Speaker 4 (22:00):
Betty's all excited about raw vegetables.
Speaker 5 (22:03):
She brought these things home. Many we don't have to
have carrot tops.
Speaker 9 (22:07):
Oh, I know.
Speaker 5 (22:10):
We can have anything we want. This is just a fad,
you know.
Speaker 10 (22:14):
Oh, yes, I understand, Margaret.
Speaker 9 (22:22):
Betty looks a little thiet.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
Are the children eating? Well? Oh, of course, this is
just one of those.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
I finished my job, but you shouldn't come in the
house in those dirty clothes.
Speaker 7 (22:34):
I couldn't change him. I'm too hungry.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
And this is our son, Bud, whoa quite a boy.
Speaker 7 (22:45):
How do you do? I wouldn't have come in like
this if I'd known you were here.
Speaker 9 (22:50):
What have you been doing?
Speaker 7 (22:51):
Digging a ditch?
Speaker 3 (22:54):
She did.
Speaker 7 (22:55):
That's a hard way to earn fifty cents when a
guy's hungry.
Speaker 5 (23:00):
But I didn't tell you that.
Speaker 6 (23:01):
You somebody's knocking on the front door.
Speaker 10 (23:04):
I'll get it Margaret isn't but a little young to
be working on the streets.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
Addie. He was digging a ditch in the backyard so
I can plant sweet peas.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
Believe me, Aunt Ethel, we don't eat carrot tops. I
didn't send butt out to earn fifty cents. We have
plenty of everything. I'm doing fine, Hi.
Speaker 6 (23:28):
Daddy, it was me at the door.
Speaker 9 (23:31):
Gee.
Speaker 6 (23:31):
The neighbors were real nice to me. Look at all
the swell clothes I got around the neighborhood.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
Kathy, your Aunt Ethel is here.
Speaker 6 (23:48):
Oh how do you do? And you say you're gathering
up old clothes, Kathy.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
It's a Sunday school. Drive Sunday school. The whole class
is doing it.
Speaker 6 (23:58):
I gotta call this just your eyes, Daddy, Kathy. Look,
he's just got some holes in the sleeves. And Mommy
said she patch up anything I got.
Speaker 4 (24:10):
Angel take the things out, please.
Speaker 6 (24:13):
And look, mommy shoes. Excuse me, an Ethel, I gotta
show the sweater to bud.
Speaker 5 (24:22):
Addie. She didn't bring those things home for us.
Speaker 10 (24:26):
You understand that, don't you, Yes, James, I understand.
Speaker 9 (24:32):
You don't have to explains.
Speaker 5 (24:34):
It's her Sunday school.
Speaker 9 (24:36):
I know I know.
Speaker 5 (24:42):
Excuse us a moment. Please, aunt Ethel come in the den.
Speaker 4 (24:45):
Margaret, don't tell me Jim.
Speaker 5 (24:52):
I know, Margaret, what am I going to do?
Speaker 3 (24:55):
That woman is sitting there in that empty living room,
absolutely convinced that I haven't.
Speaker 5 (24:59):
A nickel, that I'm starving my children.
Speaker 4 (25:02):
I try to explain, Dear, she.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Keeps saying she understands, she understands. I'm right back to
the day I tried to save her car. I'm still
an auto thief.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
Look, Dear, is it so important? After all? What she thinks?
You know you're right, So what does it matter?
Speaker 5 (25:19):
That's not the point.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
I have a certain pride as the head of this household.
Speaker 5 (25:24):
I've worked twenty years for what we have here. Then
to have somebody thinking I've wasted my life?
Speaker 10 (25:31):
Who is it, mel black Man?
Speaker 3 (25:35):
If she's coming in here to tell me that she understands.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
Come in, Auntie. I have to be going along, Margaret.
Aren't you staying?
Speaker 3 (25:48):
No?
Speaker 9 (25:48):
I want to make Hilbrook tonight before I go. I
feel I should tell.
Speaker 10 (25:55):
You, James, I think you've turned into a five.
Speaker 5 (26:02):
I beg your pardon.
Speaker 11 (26:04):
I don't know what your problems are, but the important
thing is that you have three children who love you,
who are willing to see it through with you.
Speaker 9 (26:16):
That's all that matters.
Speaker 10 (26:19):
I have some worldly goods, but I'm lonely. You may
not have a dime, but you're a wealthy man.
Speaker 5 (26:32):
But Aunt Ethel, believe me.
Speaker 9 (26:34):
Jim, I understand.
Speaker 5 (26:42):
You know. Maybe you do it that Anderson's will be
right back.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
If you're writing a letter overseas, remember that you can
refusee Soviet propaganda charges by including some simple, homely truths
about the way you and your family live. Before you
seal the envelope, stop a moment and ask yourself, will
my letter from America make a friend for America?
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Well, the lights are on again at six oh seven
Maple Street at Ethel is on her way to Zion
National Park, and aside from a slight lingering fragrance of
carrot tops, the white frame houses returned to normal. Only
a couple of small problems remain to be solved this evening,
and Jim and Margaret are at work on one of them.
Speaker 5 (27:43):
Like this, All the clothes out of the closet on
the floor. Where's Kathy in bed to sleep?
Speaker 3 (27:50):
Dear?
Speaker 4 (27:51):
You can discuss it with her in the morning, I'll
help you put them back.
Speaker 5 (27:55):
What a day.
Speaker 4 (27:57):
I think you came out pretty well, dear, considering that.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
Power company making me pay that bill twice. Wait till
I go down there in the morning.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
Hm, Jim, how long has it been since you wore
this gray suit?
Speaker 5 (28:12):
A couple of weeks?
Speaker 4 (28:14):
Why I wouldn't go down to the power company in
the morning if I were you?
Speaker 5 (28:19):
Why not?
Speaker 4 (28:20):
Here's the gas and light bill and your check? What
and my letter to aunt Ethel They were in your pocket.
Seems you forgot to mail them, dear.
Speaker 5 (28:32):
Oh well, what's the difference? The children love me?
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Got us again next week when we'll be back with
Father and Knows Best, starring Robert Young as Jim Amberson
in Our Cast, where Jeane Vanderpyle as Margaret wrote A,
William ted Donaldson, Norma Gene Nilson, Irene Tedrow, Bill Foreman,
and Don Stanley speaking Father Knows Best, directed by Andrew C. Love,
was transcribed in Hollywood and written by Paul West and
(29:10):
Roswell Rodger.
Now listen to Father Knows Best Transcribe, starring Robert Young
as Father, Welcome to Springfield and another half hour visit
(00:33):
with the folks in the white frame House on Maple Street.
Sit back and enjoy life for the Andersons Kathy, Bud, Betty, Margaret,
and Jim, as the head of this typical American household,
again sets out to prove that Father knows Best.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Creditors declared Benjamin Franklin have better memories than debtors, and
creditors are a superstitious saying great observers of set days
and times. Jim Anderson is at this moment experiencing confirmation
of Franklin's theory as he sits at the desk in
the dam of the White Frame House on Maple Street
and checks through the mail, consisting mainly of those never ending,
(01:22):
always punctual bills like this.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Milk bill twenty four to seventy five. Margaret, isn't this
a pretty big milk bill?
Speaker 4 (01:33):
Well, that bill includes better too.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Oh, no, wonder gosh, another bill from the cleaners. Seems
like I just paid the last one a couple of
days ago.
Speaker 5 (01:43):
Money thirteen dollars? Are we carrying? Neatness? A little too far.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
About the only thing we've been sending out to the
cleaners lately is your suits.
Speaker 5 (01:55):
Oh well, a man has to look decent at work. Mommy, Look,
I got my old clothes box just about filled.
Speaker 6 (02:04):
Can you help me find something else to go in it?
Speaker 4 (02:07):
Well, let me think.
Speaker 5 (02:09):
Cas, what's this about an old clothes box.
Speaker 6 (02:11):
It's for our Sunday school class.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
We're having a drive.
Speaker 6 (02:14):
Could he help some people that need clothes?
Speaker 5 (02:17):
Could you get our name on that.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
List, Dorothy, I didn't say you could have this dress.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
I still wear it, if you don't mind kidding. I'd
like my sports shirt bag. I'd like to wear it
at least twice before you give it away.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
I think you better put these things back and start
all over again. Oh shucks, Where else can I look
for old clothes?
Speaker 5 (02:41):
You were looking in the right place.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
It just happens we're still wearing them.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
Try the attic and the garage.
Speaker 6 (02:51):
Oh all right.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
If any of the things need buttons are patching, I'll
fix them up.
Speaker 5 (02:56):
Okay, I've gotta get back to these bills. Say here's
a letter for you, Margaret.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Oh well, it's from your aunt Ethel.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
Oh good, I've been expecting that.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
I haven't thought of her in years. Oh, how she
distrusted me. She was sure you were marrying as strictly
no good character.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Oh it wasn't as bad as all that.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Why is she writing to you to find out if
I've deserted you and left you destitute?
Speaker 4 (03:23):
No, she's just stopping in for a visit. What she's
passing through on her way to Zion National Park. She
wrote last week and wanted to know when would be
a good time to visit us. And I wrote back
and told her to wait a couple of weeks.
Speaker 5 (03:37):
Should have made that a couple of years.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
I wanted to have time to get the house fixed up.
That's why is that the dove important chairs out to
be recovered?
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Oh well when she decided to come, Oh my goodness,
what's the matter.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
Did this letter just come today?
Speaker 5 (03:53):
Well?
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Yes, uh, I'm not going to think of it. I've
been carrying this mail around for a day or so.
Oh Jim, Jim, Well what's the trouble?
Speaker 4 (04:03):
She says she's going to be here the fifth, that's
today today. No, dear, if I'd only known this, I'd
never have set the furniture out. Why didn't she wait
a couple of weeks, like I suggested my letter.
Speaker 5 (04:16):
Well, you know, Aunt Ethel.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
I guess I'll just have to explain to her where
the furniture is.
Speaker 5 (04:21):
She won't believe it.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Explaining anything to that woman is like squirting a Seltzer
bottle at the ocean.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Oh dear, this would happen.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
I'll never forget the first time I saw her. She
drove that Piros arrow of hers up in front of
your house and went inside. I came along, saw the
car starting to roll down the hill, so I jumped
on the running board and set the brake. Just then
she came tearing out of the house. And to this
day she's convinced that I was stealing her car.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
I wonder if I could borrow some furniture.
Speaker 5 (04:55):
I explained till I was blue in the.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
Face, just to Davenport would help.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
He just kept saying, oh, yes, yes, of course I understand.
But you knew darn Welsh didn't believe a word of it.
Speaker 7 (05:06):
Mom.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
I think I'll run across the street and see if
missus Davis will lend us hers.
Speaker 7 (05:11):
Mom, what do you want me to? Oh? Hello, Dan,
you home?
Speaker 3 (05:20):
No, I'm bear hunting in the African velvet. Why are
you dragging a shovel through the house.
Speaker 8 (05:26):
I just came in to ask Mom where she wanted
me to dig that trench for the sweet peas.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
But I told you I wanted the trench dug alongside
the back fence, right between those two steaks I put
in the ground.
Speaker 7 (05:38):
That's what I thought, but I wanted to be sure.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
Jim, I'm going to run over to missus Davis's. I'll
be right back.
Speaker 5 (05:43):
Okay. Oh here, but don't sit down. You've got work
to do outside.
Speaker 7 (05:49):
Oh gee, Dan, I've got to have a little rest.
Digging ditches is hard work.
Speaker 5 (05:55):
But you haven't done it yet.
Speaker 7 (05:57):
I know, but I might be too tired of it
after I get it done.
Speaker 5 (06:03):
Well, why don't you get out there and see?
Speaker 7 (06:06):
Okay, what are you doing?
Speaker 5 (06:08):
Dad?
Speaker 3 (06:09):
I'm trying to pay a few bills here, but I'm
running out of checks. I'll get that shovel out of
here and get it to working. Mother.
Speaker 7 (06:17):
How much do you think this digging job ought to pay?
Speaker 6 (06:20):
I don't know, mother, Oh, hello, father for his mother across.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
The street borrowing a davenport for Aunt Ethel What and
don't ask me to explain that what are you doing
carrying around an armful of weeds?
Speaker 6 (06:35):
Well, these aren't weeds, they're vitamins.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Oh, you can buy them right on the bush now, huh.
Speaker 6 (06:41):
Oh, I didn't buy these. They're carrot tops and they're
simply reeking with vitamins. And Missus Liggett was gonna throw
them away.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Think of that.
Speaker 5 (06:50):
I hope word doesn't get around.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
And my daughter goes about picking up old carrot tops
for her father's supper.
Speaker 6 (06:57):
Yeah, father, what are we having for dinner tonight?
Speaker 5 (07:01):
How should I know? Ask your mother?
Speaker 6 (07:03):
Probably a lot of cook stuff.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Well, I don't anticipate sitting down to a plate of
raw pork chops.
Speaker 6 (07:11):
Why didn't say pork chops? We should eat a lot
of raw vegetables, especially leafy ones.
Speaker 7 (07:18):
I like leafy potatoes.
Speaker 6 (07:26):
Ralph said that we Oh it's Ralph again. Well Ralph
is a very intellectual young man. He's utterly crawling with brains.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Oh I knew there was something wrong with him.
Speaker 6 (07:43):
Ralph says, we're all dying of malnutrition and don't know.
Speaker 5 (07:46):
It because we're not eating enough carrot tops.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
Well, I checked with Missus Davis and mother.
Speaker 6 (07:51):
Can we have something raw for dinner?
Speaker 3 (07:54):
What. It seems that Ralph has taken over our kitchen
to save us from starvation.
Speaker 7 (08:00):
Else full of vitamins.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
But haven't you gone out to dig that sweet peach
wrench yet?
Speaker 6 (08:07):
Well?
Speaker 8 (08:07):
I was going to, but Dad hasn't figured out how
much he's gonna pay me for it.
Speaker 5 (08:12):
When did I say I was going to pay you?
Speaker 4 (08:15):
My goodness? Do you have to be paid for every
little thing you do around here?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Mommy?
Speaker 4 (08:20):
Seems to me you'd do it just to help a little.
Speaker 6 (08:22):
Mommy, I got my old clothes box filled?
Speaker 4 (08:25):
Can I take it over?
Speaker 6 (08:26):
Leave it at the church?
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Hey?
Speaker 6 (08:28):
What's my sweater doing in there?
Speaker 4 (08:30):
Give me that, don't take give me my jeans?
Speaker 5 (08:33):
Get my hunting jacket out of there?
Speaker 4 (08:37):
Ah, hack, the box is empty again, Kathy, I told
you not to take things out of our closets.
Speaker 6 (08:44):
I couldn't find anything anyplace else.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
Well, go around the neighborhood, ask around at different houses.
Oh okay, I wonder where.
Speaker 7 (08:56):
She found Dad's hunting jacket. I hunted for that all
less summer bud.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
Please go out and dig that trench.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Well, if I was gonna get paid, how much do
you think the job would be worth?
Speaker 5 (09:09):
It's worth fifty cents to me to get rid of you.
Speaker 7 (09:12):
Okay, it's a deal.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
Mother, What is it, Betty?
Speaker 6 (09:18):
We've got to watch our nutritional intake.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
Well, I don't have time now, Betty. Aunt Ethel is coming.
Speaker 6 (09:25):
What are we having for dinner tonight?
Speaker 4 (09:28):
I don't know yet, but I want to plan something
extra special. Maybe you can go out and start peeling
some potatoes.
Speaker 6 (09:34):
Peeling them, mother, we've got to stop peeling away all
the minerals and vitamins.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
Well, all right, put them in the oven and bake them. Then, well,
I'll put them in the oven. But Ralph isn't gonna
like it.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Well, we'll throw Ralph a raw artichoke next time he
comes to Ralph.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
I wonder what would be good to have for dinner tonight?
Could we afford steaks?
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Afford anything that will impress aunt Ethel? The sky's the limit.
How did you make out with missus Davis?
Speaker 4 (10:07):
Well, she was perfectly willing to let us have the Davenport,
but honestly, it's in worse condition than ours was.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Well, maybe we can keep her out of the living
room as much as possible.
Speaker 5 (10:17):
It'll work out, I hope so.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
Well, i'd better get out in the kitchen.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Oh no, what's the matter. Here's a second notice from
the gas and electric company. I paid this bill a
couple of weeks ago. What's the matter with that outfit anyway?
Speaker 4 (10:34):
Well, don't get so excited about it.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Just some little error, but there's no excuse for it,
and I don't like their attitude. They say if it's
not paid within twenty four hours, they'll shut off both
the gas and electricity.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
Well, my stars, don't let that happen tonight of all nights.
You'd better drive down there and pay it right now.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
I've already paid it.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
We'll pay it again. This is no time to argue.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Nothing doing when you know your rights, stick to your guns.
I'll just call them up. Hand me the phone book.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
No, Jim, don't do anything that's going to get our
gas and lights turned off. And ethel will probably be
here any minute.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Don't worry that turning off business is just a threat.
With an old customer like us, they wouldn't dare turn
them off.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
Mother. What is it, Eddie?
Speaker 6 (11:19):
Nothing works, the OVID will go on, the hot water's.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Cold, and there no lights, no gas, no lights.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
Well, old customer, what now?
Speaker 1 (11:45):
The Anderson's will be back in a moment. It used
to be said that the pen was mightier than the sword,
But today we have found that the pen is might
here than the radio, broadcast, the commissar, and all the
other means by which the Soviet Union is and spreading
anti American propaganda throughout Europe and Asia. When the pen
is in the hand of friend, writing to friend, of son,
(12:08):
writing to father of cousin, writing to cousin, when it
tells the simple, honest truth about the way Americans live, work,
and think, it can undermine a mountainous barrage of false propaganda.
Keep the truth about America alive in Europe and Asia
through letters to friends and relatives abroad.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
When you know your right, stick to your guns, a
worthy motto which Jim Anderson has accepted and even given
a modern and practical application as follows. If you've paid
the light and gas bill once, don't pay it again.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Ah.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Yes, the white frame house on Naples Street has become
the watch tower of principal and rugged determination. It is
also a watch tower with no gas or lights. With
Margaret's aunt ethel do for a visit this shortage of facility.
It seems to have Jim and Margaret. I'm the horns
of a fair sized dilemma like this.
Speaker 5 (13:17):
If there's anything that burns me up when I pay
my bills on.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
Time, I don't run the power company.
Speaker 5 (13:23):
It's a matter of principle, Margaret. When I have these
stubs to.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
Prove it a dead where's the shovel?
Speaker 5 (13:29):
I've got it right here in my checkbook. What do
you want, Bud?
Speaker 8 (13:37):
I think I left it there in the den.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
For goodness sake, Where are you bad?
Speaker 8 (13:42):
Here outside the window, there's the shovel leaning against the land.
Speaker 5 (13:48):
Oh that's a perfect place for the shovel. You're gonna
be neating it dead well, I.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Might want to spade up the living room.
Speaker 8 (13:57):
You're kidding, aren't you?
Speaker 7 (14:03):
Of course?
Speaker 5 (14:03):
Bud, come and get it now, Margaret.
Speaker 8 (14:06):
If I've added to me through the window, will your dad?
Speaker 4 (14:10):
But we're trying to talk in here. Besides, we can't
hand it through the screen.
Speaker 8 (14:14):
I'll get a screwdriver and take the screen off.
Speaker 5 (14:21):
Bud, come in the house and get the shovel.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
Okay, Jim, I should be starting dinner.
Speaker 5 (14:29):
All right.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
I'll call a power company, I'll pay the bills. Wait
till I go down there. Tomorrow morning.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
If it weren't for your aunt Ethel, I wouldn't do it.
I'd sooner. Hello.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Uh, this is James Anderson, six oh seven Maple Street.
Our gas and lights were shut off by mistake. Will
you send a man out right away to turn them on?
Not tomorrow morning, tonight, right now.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
Daddy, he's telephoning.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
Well, this is urgent. It's an emergency. Oh thank you.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
What did they say, Dear?
Speaker 5 (15:04):
All the men are out. They're going to get somebody
here as soon as they can.
Speaker 6 (15:08):
Look, Daddy, I got some clothes already from the fillus
this kidding.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Now, let's get things spruced up, a little hiding up
the front yard.
Speaker 6 (15:16):
I got a fir muff and a pair of overshoes
and some old football pants.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Well that's gonna make a beautiful opposit for somebody.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
Now, run along, Angel.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
I'm gonna get a last stup, boy, Margaret, What time
does Anne Ethel's train get in this evening?
Speaker 4 (15:34):
She isn't coming on the train, Dear, she's driving.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Wouldn't you know that, of all days ant Ethel would
pick this particular day.
Speaker 5 (15:41):
I'll bet she ignored your letter on purpose plans to
sneak up on me.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
Oh, it's not that, dear.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
She predicted I'd never amount to a hill of beans.
Wouldn't she be tickled to find us flat broke?
Speaker 4 (15:52):
Don't be silly.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Well, I'm gonna pull a surprise on the old girl.
We'll solve the living room furniture problem and the gas
and lights with one brilliant strategic move. We'll take Andy
out to dinner the most expensive place in town. I'll
really splurge, Jim. I'll buy her an orchid corsage. We'll
go to the theater, get the best seats, Jim, Lady,
We'll take her to a night club, ring side table.
(16:16):
I'll have the orchestra play her favorite tune. Money will
flow like water. I'll show Anne Ethel how wrong she
was about me.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
Jim. How much money do you have with you?
Speaker 5 (16:27):
Oh, I've got to, for Pete's sake, thirty nine cents.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
If you're going to have money flowing like water, it
isn't going to be very deep.
Speaker 5 (16:39):
I forgot to cash a check today. Do you have
any money I.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
Bought groceries today. I have twelve cents.
Speaker 5 (16:45):
Margaret, there must be some money in the house someplace.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
Well, Kathy dropped a nickel down the furnace last winter.
Speaker 7 (16:54):
Betty, I'm father.
Speaker 5 (16:56):
Do you have any money?
Speaker 3 (16:57):
No?
Speaker 6 (16:58):
But we have some maple syrup.
Speaker 5 (17:04):
Maple syrup.
Speaker 6 (17:05):
What do you want honey for?
Speaker 5 (17:09):
I didn't say honey, I said money.
Speaker 6 (17:12):
Oh no, I had to chip in to help Ralph
buy some noose bark clubs.
Speaker 5 (17:18):
Oh great, dear.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
Maybe Ed Davis could cash a check for you.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
That's out of town and I don't even have a check.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Hey, Mom, where are you bad?
Speaker 8 (17:27):
At the window? There's a car on in front, and
a lady looking at the front of our house with binoculars.
Wat's this She looks like my history teacher, only tougher.
Speaker 5 (17:46):
It's Aunt Ethel with binoculars.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
She's nearsighted, probably looking for our house number.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Oh no, Bud, get in the backyard, Margaret. You go
to the door, But dear, don't get excited.
Speaker 5 (17:58):
Margaret. We'll simply act as if everything is perfectly all right.
We have a fairly nice house in there.
Speaker 8 (18:05):
On the porch, pushing the doorbell, but nothing happens, no electricity.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
Go to the door, Jim, I have to get this
apron off.
Speaker 5 (18:16):
But Margaret, all right, I'm not afraid of her. Well,
I have.
Speaker 9 (18:24):
That though it broke my glasses in Baltimore?
Speaker 4 (18:27):
Is that you James?
Speaker 6 (18:29):
Sure?
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Sure, come on in, daddie, Hi, I swear you look
younger than you did twenty years ago.
Speaker 9 (18:35):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (18:37):
Let me take your coat, Daddy.
Speaker 10 (18:39):
Well, you haven't aged much, James. Of course, you never
were one to worry.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Well, I haven't much to worry about anymore. We've been
pretty lucky.
Speaker 4 (18:51):
It takes a lot of money to keep up a
house like this.
Speaker 6 (18:54):
I suppose you working now, James.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
Oh yes, I'm in business for myself, have my own
insurance office.
Speaker 9 (19:07):
Well, I suppose it'll lead to something better.
Speaker 4 (19:12):
Well, Margaret, dear, bless your heart, it's so good to
see you.
Speaker 9 (19:16):
Oh my, you look well, Margaret.
Speaker 10 (19:18):
Of course I always said you were the prettiest of
all the girls from your mother's side of the family.
Speaker 4 (19:24):
Don't you think Jim looks well? Landing?
Speaker 9 (19:26):
Yes, and he says he's doing well too.
Speaker 4 (19:30):
Oh, yes, Jim's done very well. You rent this house, do.
Speaker 9 (19:34):
You, James?
Speaker 5 (19:36):
Oh no, no, it's ours. We bought it.
Speaker 9 (19:38):
Oh well, you changed. I guess.
Speaker 10 (19:45):
The last time I saw you was before you were married,
and you just pawned your saxophone to pay your room rent.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Oh it's pretty hard now to believe that anything like
that ever happened to me.
Speaker 4 (20:01):
Well, what would you like to do? Anie? Drove all
away from Cleveland today.
Speaker 10 (20:07):
I'd like a nice hot bath.
Speaker 5 (20:13):
Why don't we all get in the car and take
a drive around town.
Speaker 9 (20:17):
I think i'd like a nice hot bath.
Speaker 4 (20:20):
First, we have a little problem, Antie.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
You see, the hot water heater broke down just this afternoon.
Speaker 5 (20:29):
The man's on his way out to take care of it.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
I'm awfully sorry.
Speaker 9 (20:33):
Well, don't worry about it.
Speaker 5 (20:35):
I'm glad you understand it.
Speaker 9 (20:36):
Just heat up a kettle of water on the kitchen stove.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
Just a minute.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
The trouble with the water heater is the gas. You know,
for some reason, the gas isn't coming through the pipes.
Speaker 5 (20:51):
No gas pipe seem to be stopped up someplace.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
The man will be here any minute.
Speaker 6 (20:58):
Well, father, I guess what ad some money for you?
Speaker 5 (21:06):
Oh, Betty, a whole dollar.
Speaker 4 (21:12):
What's this? An Ethel?
Speaker 10 (21:14):
This is our older daughter, Betty. She's a pretty girl.
Speaker 6 (21:20):
Oh how do you do? Mother's told me so many
nice things about you, Aunt Ethel.
Speaker 4 (21:25):
Really, Oh, here's.
Speaker 6 (21:27):
The money, father, It's all I could find in my purse,
but you're welcome to.
Speaker 5 (21:30):
It, Princess Waite.
Speaker 6 (21:32):
Oh and I couldn't use the stove, so I'm making
a cold salad. All of those carrot tops. I found.
Speaker 9 (21:46):
A carrot tops well an ethyl.
Speaker 6 (21:49):
You see, this is going to be the best meal
we've had in weeks. You're all the.
Speaker 4 (22:00):
Betty's all excited about raw vegetables.
Speaker 5 (22:03):
She brought these things home. Many we don't have to
have carrot tops.
Speaker 9 (22:07):
Oh, I know.
Speaker 5 (22:10):
We can have anything we want. This is just a fad,
you know.
Speaker 10 (22:14):
Oh, yes, I understand, Margaret.
Speaker 9 (22:22):
Betty looks a little thiet.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
Are the children eating? Well? Oh, of course, this is
just one of those.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
I finished my job, but you shouldn't come in the
house in those dirty clothes.
Speaker 7 (22:34):
I couldn't change him. I'm too hungry.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
And this is our son, Bud, whoa quite a boy.
Speaker 7 (22:45):
How do you do? I wouldn't have come in like
this if I'd known you were here.
Speaker 9 (22:50):
What have you been doing?
Speaker 7 (22:51):
Digging a ditch?
Speaker 3 (22:54):
She did.
Speaker 7 (22:55):
That's a hard way to earn fifty cents when a
guy's hungry.
Speaker 5 (23:00):
But I didn't tell you that.
Speaker 6 (23:01):
You somebody's knocking on the front door.
Speaker 10 (23:04):
I'll get it Margaret isn't but a little young to
be working on the streets.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
Addie. He was digging a ditch in the backyard so
I can plant sweet peas.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
Believe me, Aunt Ethel, we don't eat carrot tops. I
didn't send butt out to earn fifty cents. We have
plenty of everything. I'm doing fine, Hi.
Speaker 6 (23:28):
Daddy, it was me at the door.
Speaker 9 (23:31):
Gee.
Speaker 6 (23:31):
The neighbors were real nice to me. Look at all
the swell clothes I got around the neighborhood.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
Kathy, your Aunt Ethel is here.
Speaker 6 (23:48):
Oh how do you do? And you say you're gathering
up old clothes, Kathy.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
It's a Sunday school. Drive Sunday school. The whole class
is doing it.
Speaker 6 (23:58):
I gotta call this just your eyes, Daddy, Kathy. Look,
he's just got some holes in the sleeves. And Mommy
said she patch up anything I got.
Speaker 4 (24:10):
Angel take the things out, please.
Speaker 6 (24:13):
And look, mommy shoes. Excuse me, an Ethel, I gotta
show the sweater to bud.
Speaker 5 (24:22):
Addie. She didn't bring those things home for us.
Speaker 10 (24:26):
You understand that, don't you, Yes, James, I understand.
Speaker 9 (24:32):
You don't have to explains.
Speaker 5 (24:34):
It's her Sunday school.
Speaker 9 (24:36):
I know I know.
Speaker 5 (24:42):
Excuse us a moment. Please, aunt Ethel come in the den.
Speaker 4 (24:45):
Margaret, don't tell me Jim.
Speaker 5 (24:52):
I know, Margaret, what am I going to do?
Speaker 3 (24:55):
That woman is sitting there in that empty living room,
absolutely convinced that I haven't.
Speaker 5 (24:59):
A nickel, that I'm starving my children.
Speaker 4 (25:02):
I try to explain, Dear, she.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Keeps saying she understands, she understands. I'm right back to
the day I tried to save her car. I'm still
an auto thief.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
Look, Dear, is it so important? After all? What she thinks?
You know you're right, So what does it matter?
Speaker 5 (25:19):
That's not the point.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
I have a certain pride as the head of this household.
Speaker 5 (25:24):
I've worked twenty years for what we have here. Then
to have somebody thinking I've wasted my life?
Speaker 10 (25:31):
Who is it, mel black Man?
Speaker 3 (25:35):
If she's coming in here to tell me that she understands.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
Come in, Auntie. I have to be going along, Margaret.
Aren't you staying?
Speaker 3 (25:48):
No?
Speaker 9 (25:48):
I want to make Hilbrook tonight before I go. I
feel I should tell.
Speaker 10 (25:55):
You, James, I think you've turned into a five.
Speaker 5 (26:02):
I beg your pardon.
Speaker 11 (26:04):
I don't know what your problems are, but the important
thing is that you have three children who love you,
who are willing to see it through with you.
Speaker 9 (26:16):
That's all that matters.
Speaker 10 (26:19):
I have some worldly goods, but I'm lonely. You may
not have a dime, but you're a wealthy man.
Speaker 5 (26:32):
But Aunt Ethel, believe me.
Speaker 9 (26:34):
Jim, I understand.
Speaker 5 (26:42):
You know. Maybe you do it that Anderson's will be
right back.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
If you're writing a letter overseas, remember that you can
refusee Soviet propaganda charges by including some simple, homely truths
about the way you and your family live. Before you
seal the envelope, stop a moment and ask yourself, will
my letter from America make a friend for America?
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Well, the lights are on again at six oh seven
Maple Street at Ethel is on her way to Zion
National Park, and aside from a slight lingering fragrance of
carrot tops, the white frame houses returned to normal. Only
a couple of small problems remain to be solved this evening,
and Jim and Margaret are at work on one of them.
Speaker 5 (27:43):
Like this, All the clothes out of the closet on
the floor. Where's Kathy in bed to sleep?
Speaker 3 (27:50):
Dear?
Speaker 4 (27:51):
You can discuss it with her in the morning, I'll
help you put them back.
Speaker 5 (27:55):
What a day.
Speaker 4 (27:57):
I think you came out pretty well, dear, considering that.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
Power company making me pay that bill twice. Wait till
I go down there in the morning.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
Hm, Jim, how long has it been since you wore
this gray suit?
Speaker 5 (28:12):
A couple of weeks?
Speaker 4 (28:14):
Why I wouldn't go down to the power company in
the morning if I were you?
Speaker 5 (28:19):
Why not?
Speaker 4 (28:20):
Here's the gas and light bill and your check? What
and my letter to aunt Ethel They were in your pocket.
Seems you forgot to mail them, dear.
Speaker 5 (28:32):
Oh well, what's the difference? The children love me?
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Got us again next week when we'll be back with
Father and Knows Best, starring Robert Young as Jim Amberson
in Our Cast, where Jeane Vanderpyle as Margaret wrote A,
William ted Donaldson, Norma Gene Nilson, Irene Tedrow, Bill Foreman,
and Don Stanley speaking Father Knows Best, directed by Andrew C. Love,
was transcribed in Hollywood and written by Paul West and
(29:10):
Roswell Rodger.
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