April 24, 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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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Mother, Is Naxwell House really the only coffee in the.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
World where your father says so and your father knows best.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Yes, it's father knows best.
Speaker 4 (00:21):
Transcribed in Hollywood starring Robert Young as father. A half
hour visit with your neighbors, the Andersons, brought to you
by America's favorite coffee, Maxwell House, the coffee that's always
good to the last drop. In speaking of children, the
(00:48):
poet Charles M. Dickinson wrote, they are idols of hearts
and of households. They are angels of God in disguise.
The sunlight still sleeps in their tresses, His glorious still
gleams in their eyes. Well, it seems like a pretty
good bet that mister Dickinson never spent any appreciable time
in Springfield, especially in a certain white frame house.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
On Maple Street.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
If he did, it's a cinch that he never stayed
for dinner, where the conversation generally goes something like this,
But Dad.
Speaker 5 (01:19):
I won't get my allowance until Monday, and I've only
got twenty cents.
Speaker 6 (01:23):
That's very interesting, Kathy stopped playing with your mashed potatoes.
Speaker 5 (01:27):
Yes, Daddy, it isn't as if I needed a whole lot.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Heck, what's fifty cents?
Speaker 6 (01:33):
Well, lately i've heard it referred to as a nineteen
fifty nickel. That was a joke, Margaret, fifty cents nineteen
fifty nickel?
Speaker 4 (01:42):
You see, I heard you, Jim Oh.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
I just thought, Bud, will you please pass the bread?
Speaker 5 (01:53):
Gosh, if you needed fifty cents and I had fifty cents,
you know I'd be only too glad to lend it
to you.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
You mean I can have it?
Speaker 4 (02:02):
No, that's wonderful gravy, Margaret, would you mind passing it?
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Betty?
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Please? Here you are?
Speaker 5 (02:10):
Father?
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Thank you?
Speaker 6 (02:11):
Say Mom, your mother's not going to lend you the
fifty cents either, Bud, so stop bothering her.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
I wasn't bothering her Dad.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I just thought, And if Bud really needs the money.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
This is Thursday, Margarety.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
God, he's allowance only three days ago. Well, how did
I know she was going to be a pig.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Oo? Marion Swift?
Speaker 5 (02:30):
Believe me, it'll be a long time before I invite
her in for another All all I said was would
you like them all?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
And you know what? She ordered?
Speaker 5 (02:39):
A triple deck, a sandwich and a hot fudge Sunday
with nuts.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
That is one of the unfortunate things about life, Bud.
All women are born hungry, Jim.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Especially beautiful women. I hope she gets a stomach.
Speaker 6 (03:00):
But Kathy, if you're quite finished with that construction job,
may I suggest that you put your potatoes to the
use for which they were intended.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Huh, eat your dinner?
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (03:13):
Oh what?
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Okay? Go ahead, dear say Betty, don't ask me for
any money. I'm bro she wouldn't even give any to
Billy Smith.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
Kathy, Wait a minute, you mean Billy Smith asked you
for money?
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Well, he said he needed eighty cents in a hurry.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
What's gotten into these kids anyway? Imagine a boy asking
a girl for money.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Well, they've been friends for such a long time.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
It's outrageous, That's what it is, Just plain outrageous.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
I think it is too creepers. It's only been three
days since I borrowed it from him.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
What were you saying, Jim?
Speaker 3 (03:56):
I uh, I was just how are you getting along
in school these days? Kathy?
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Oh? Pretty good?
Speaker 3 (04:05):
How about thirty cents? That isn't much. But please, I
was talking to your sister. What were you saying about school, Kathy?
Speaker 1 (04:12):
I wasn't saying anything, Well.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Say something about anything.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Okay, I didn't win the spelling contest today.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Well that's nice. Was there anything else you didn't win?
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Well, how did I know there wasn't any? K in civics?
I don't even know what civics are. You don't know
what civics is, That's what I said. You said you
don't know what civics are. Well, I don't, Kathy.
Speaker 6 (04:47):
The point Betty is trying to make is that civics
is in the singular, not the plural.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
They are.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Not they are? They is? I mean it is? What
is civics is, Kathy?
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Civics is a noun, and there's just one one Civics
like Yonkers, there's only one Yonkers.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Why are they?
Speaker 4 (05:21):
Yonkers is a town, It's a place where people live.
Why because they, Kathleen, eat your dinner.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
But you didn't tell me.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
I said, eat your dinner, Jim.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
I think you're being very unreasonable. Why don't you tell
Kathy what she wants to know?
Speaker 4 (05:36):
I did tell her. I told her civics was a
singular noun. What more is there to tell?
Speaker 2 (05:40):
You can tell her what civics are or is?
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Well?
Speaker 6 (05:46):
All right, Kathy Civics is it's the uh Dad, it's.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
From the Latin.
Speaker 6 (05:54):
Uh what do you call it? Which means citizen? And uh.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
You see, Kathy, the government is divided up into certain
groups and certain other groups. Now, the government has a
certain responsibility to the people, and the people have a
certain responsibility to the government.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Which is the way it should be, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Dan?
Speaker 4 (06:13):
But will you please Keith still I'm trying to explain
Civics to Kathy.
Speaker 5 (06:17):
Civics is that department of political science dealing with the
rights of citizenship and the duties of citizens.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Which is exactly what I just finished saying, isn't it, Betty?
Word for word, Well, it meant the same thing.
Speaker 6 (06:34):
Maybe I don't remember the formal definition, but I certainly
know the practical application of the word. And that's what
Kathy's really interested in.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Isn't it, Kathy?
Speaker 5 (06:43):
It is.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Take well, take Springfield for example.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
We know that we have a mayor, a city assembly,
and the usual city employees. Now each of these is
a public servant and his principal duty is to protect
the rights and privileges of the people.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
That's clear, isn't it. Jim.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
I'm sure that Kathy doesn't care about Margaret.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
This is very interesting. What was that, Betty?
Speaker 1 (07:06):
I was just clearing my throat, father, so I can
listen better.
Speaker 6 (07:13):
It's high time his family took a little interest in
something other than boy friends.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
In the price of hot fudge Sundays. But I didn't ask, mind, Bud.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
I'm explaining about civics. And it's very interesting, isn't.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
It, Kathy.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Oh? Sure.
Speaker 6 (07:26):
That's up to the citizens of every community to see
that their rights are protected.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
That's why we have elections, to keep the public servants
on their toes. I'll take the mayor for example.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
If we think the mayor is doing a bad job,
we don't vote for him again.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
We throw him out put somebody else in.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Betty, we'd better start clearing the table.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Okay.
Speaker 6 (07:45):
Anytime a public servant thinks he's bigger than the people,
well that's the time to watch out.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
I'll take this new highway. What right do they have
to tear down the old meeting hall for a new highway?
That's what I want to know.
Speaker 5 (07:57):
Don't take the cake, mom, all right, dear, they don't
mind progress.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
But there's such a thing as sentiment too.
Speaker 6 (08:04):
That building is a monument and it holds precious memories
for everyone in Springfield.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
But do they care.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
No, they're going to tear it down build a road.
And they didn't even have.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
The decency to ask the people if that's what they wanted.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Margaret, go ahead, dear, we're listening.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
We've taken just.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
About all we're going to take from that bunch of
incompetence in the city hall. After the next election, they'll
be out selling pencils on the street corners, and if.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
They think, Kathy, will you please stop fidgeting?
Speaker 1 (08:31):
But I don't understand something.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Well, I've made it perfectly clear.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
I know.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
But what are yunkers.
Speaker 5 (08:51):
For crying out loud?
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Kathy?
Speaker 5 (08:53):
You can trust me, can't you.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
You said you'd give it back to me on Monday,
and this is Monday.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
But you don't need the quarter.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
I do too.
Speaker 5 (09:02):
Look, Kathy, why don't you just let me pay.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
You the interest?
Speaker 5 (09:05):
I want my quarter, and next Monday I'll give you
the quarter and another nickel for interest.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
I want my quarter of all the stubborn.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
It's daddy, Now we'll see about it.
Speaker 5 (09:18):
A minute day.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Hello, here's your quarter.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
How about the interest and another nickel?
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Miser?
Speaker 4 (09:26):
Thank you bed, Well, what's going on in here? Oh,
not a thing, Dad, he's trying to borrow money. Look
out for him, Kathy, he's a slick one.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
Sure you have to worry about her, Jim, I'll be writing, Honey.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
There's a letter for you next to the phone ahead.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
I see it. Well, what do you suppose the mayor wants?
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Maybe he wants you to help him with something received?
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Your impertinence? What in the name of Margaret? Anything wrong, Dad?
Speaker 4 (10:00):
I've never heard of anything, Margaret, Margaret.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Just a moment, Dear Betty, Yes, mother, be sure the
peace don't boil over?
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Okay?
Speaker 4 (10:12):
How can you worry about peas at a time like this.
I've been ordered to appear in the Mayor's office tomorrow afternoon.
You've been ordered, yes, ordered to explain the impertinence in
my letter?
Speaker 3 (10:24):
What letter? I don't know. I didn't write any letter, Daddy.
What is it? Kathy?
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Maybe he means my letter?
Speaker 3 (10:32):
You're you mean you wrote a letter to the mayor.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Oh? You said he had no right to tear down
the meeting hall without asking you?
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Oh, dear, but tell Betty to turn the light off
under the peas, we'll probably be quite a while.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
Okay, Mom, Kathy, why do you do things like that?
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Well, I just said what you said.
Speaker 4 (10:56):
I don't care what you said. Or I said, little
girls don't write letter to the mayor. It isn't done.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Why because he's a busy man. He's got too many
other things on his mind.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
But you said he shouldn't build the road.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
I know what I said, and I still said, Jim,
I'm sure you can straighten the whole thing out, can't you.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (11:15):
Why does he address it to me in the first place.
I didn't write the letter, Daddy. If he wants me
to speak to Kathy, I'll be glad to the way
he talks.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
You think I wrote it, daddy? Yes, Kathleen.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Do mayors pay any attention to little girls?
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Of course not.
Speaker 6 (11:31):
They don't even have time to pay attention to big girls.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
That's what I thought.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
What do you mean that's what you thought?
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Well, after I wrote the letter, I figured maybe if
he found out I was only nine years old, he
wouldn't pay any attention to.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
It, So so.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
I signed your name.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Oh no, Well, that was a fine speech father made
(12:16):
at the dinner table, though mother did seem to have
some doubts. And yet there are some things every woman
loves to hear at her dinner table. For instance, best
cup of coffee I Ever tasted. You'd like to hear
those words at your table, wouldn't you, Well, ma'am, tomorrow
you can hear them, and from the world's greatest coffee expert.
(12:36):
That's right, because the number one expert is your husband.
Of course, to the coffee trade, we're experts too. After all,
more people enjoy our Maxwell House coffee than any other brand.
But the expert with the final say so, he's that
man of yours. And if you'll fill his cup with
Maxwell House, we're mighty sure he'll say best coffee I
(12:59):
Ever tasted. In fact, if he doesn't, we'll give you
your money back.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
That's how sure we are.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
You see, we know no coffee tastes like Maxwell House
because no coffee's made like Maxwell House. That famous good
to the last drop flavor comes from just one thing,
our recipe, a recipe demanding certain fine coffees blended just so,
and only Maxwell House has that recipe. So get a
(13:26):
pound of Maxwell House tomorrow, serve it to your husband.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
If he doesn't say best coffee ever, why.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
Just send us the can an unused portion, and we'll
gladly refund the price you paid. Our address is right
on every familiar blue tin. Tomorrow see how much your husband,
the world's greatest coffee expert, enjoys Maxwell House coffee always
good to the last drop. An ancient Greek named Euripides
(14:02):
is supposed to have said, the gods visit the sins
of the father upon the children. If that's what he said,
mister Euripides had rocks in his head, or else he'd
never run across a family named Anderson. With them, the
shoe is generally on the other foot, and now, as
they wait in the corridor outside the Mayor's office, the
shoe is definitely beginning to pinch.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Like this, Jim, the entire idea is completely ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
It is no such thing.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Making us drop everything we were doing just to come
down here and sit Margaret.
Speaker 6 (14:31):
If he sees me in the bosom of my family, yes, well,
maybe you'd rather visit me in the local jail, Jim,
and bring me chocolate.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Covered hack saws.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Jim Anderson, no one said you were going to be
sent to Jay, how do you know?
Speaker 3 (14:47):
How can anybody know? Until we find out what that
genie is put in the letter.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
All you have to do is explain to the man, Kathy,
did you call me?
Speaker 4 (14:58):
Daddy?
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Oh? What are you doing?
Speaker 1 (15:01):
I was reading a comic book? Why?
Speaker 3 (15:04):
Uh No, I was just never mind. Say did you
hear that?
Speaker 4 (15:10):
Dad?
Speaker 5 (15:10):
They're blasting for the new road Boy? That was a pip,
wasn't it.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (15:15):
It was fine. Where's Betty?
Speaker 5 (15:18):
She's around someplace, Betty good Well.
Speaker 6 (15:22):
I just thought, God, I brought you all along to
prove that I'm a man of character and substance. But
if you're going to stand outside the Mayor's office and
scream at the top of your lung me dead?
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Wants you Bud?
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Please?
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Margaret?
Speaker 6 (15:37):
I think they allow visitors in the jail on Wednesday.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Are we going father?
Speaker 6 (15:43):
No, We're not going in. I'm beginning to think your
mother was right in the first place. I'll stand a
much better chance if I go in alone.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
What did we do?
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Nothing? Nobody in this family ever does anything.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
You can get into more trouble than any ten kids
in Springfield.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
But it's a very strange thing. Nobody ever does anything.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
I went down to the end of the hall to
get a drink. What's wrong with that?
Speaker 4 (16:07):
I didn't say there was anything wrong with it. I
merely said, I'm thirsty.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
You stay right where you are.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
But they got a drink and you didn't tell her.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
She couldn't Margaret in one morning.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Let's speak to them. Dear Kathy, Betty, Bud, Bud Bud.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Come back here. I just want to look out the window.
I said, come back here. Holy call. All we do
is sit around this old hall. How long do we
have to stay here? Anyway?
Speaker 6 (16:35):
I haven't the faintest idea. Now look, you may all
think that this is very funny, but it isn't. I'm
in a very serious predicament.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Why, Jim, as soon as you tell him that Kathy.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Wrote the letter, he's going to ask where she picked
up the ideas. Don't you understand, honey, the mayor isn't
a stupid man. He knows the children don't have political opinions.
They're like parrots. They repeat whatever they hear.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Why don't you tell them I heard it on the radio.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
What on the radio that he's a crook?
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Kathy?
Speaker 2 (17:12):
You didn't tell the mayor.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
But Daddy said, you never said he was a crook.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
You didn't.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
No, I may have said a lot of things, but
I never said that he was a crook.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
Well I did, Margaret, mister Anderson, Yes, the mayor will
see you now.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Thank you very much, Jim Dear, everything's going to be
all right.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
The condemned man at a hearty breakfast. Well, let's go.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Fotter please, Betty, let's not say a word, not even
if he asked or something.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
Nobody's going to ask you anything. Just try to look human.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Are you sure you didn't say he was a crook? Kathy, Well,
somebody did.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
I think that's the trouble with his family. Too. Many
people try to think.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
Your honor, yes, James Anderson and family.
Speaker 6 (18:06):
Oh, come in, come right in your honor. Well, this
is a very pleasant surprise. I hadn't anticipated five Anderson's.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
You see, your honor.
Speaker 6 (18:16):
That will be all Bill, Thank you, yes, sir, Well,
now shall we all sit down and be comfortable?
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Thank you, your honor. You're very kind, all right, children,
your honor.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
Your honor.
Speaker 5 (18:26):
My father's a wonderful man, and every time he's been arrested,
it hasn't been.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
His father, Your honor. I've never been arrested in my
entire life, my.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Father, don't you remember the time you thought the car
was stolen and the police ready, Well, they said you
were driving a stolen car.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
It was my own car. It was a mistake.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Well, that's what Bud said, heady, Please, I'm just trying
to help your.
Speaker 6 (18:52):
Honor, mister Anderson. I received an amazing letter a few
days ago.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
I know, your honor, and i'd like to explain. I
heard you speak some time ago at a service.
Speaker 6 (19:02):
Club luncheon, didn't I. Yes, I'm the president, your Honor,
But i'd like to At that time he struck me
as being a fairly intelligent man, Thank you, you see,
your Honor, not at all the sort of man who'd
spelled grafter.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
With two teas.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Grafter, doesn't it have two teas?
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Oh dear, just one, Oh, your Honor. If you'll only
let me explain, there'll be lots of time for explanation. First,
permit me to say that this was a.
Speaker 6 (19:34):
Very remarkable letter, but it contained some very pertinent information
and a very valuable suggestion.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Your Honor. What I'm trying to say is it did.
Speaker 6 (19:45):
Oh yes, I've already had several talks with the City Council,
and we are all agreed that your ideas are.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
Not only logical but extremely helpful. Well, I wouldn't go
quite that far, your honor.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
Me Italian Cathleen be quiet days sick handy gee whiz.
Speaker 6 (20:08):
Now, for example, let's take the first point in your letter.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
The first point. Yes, now, there is a very wise suggestion.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
Uh, your honor about the letter, daddy.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
He means the part about changing the meeting hall into
a museum.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
All that part, well, it was merely.
Speaker 6 (20:26):
Outside of the miserable spelling, the aprocious punctuation, and the
weirdest grammar I have ever encountered.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
The point was very well made.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Your honor, what my husband has been trying to say.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Of course, the letter was obviously written by a child.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
How does he know that?
Speaker 3 (20:45):
And I'm quite sure I know which child.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Well, you see, dear, there was no need to be upset.
Speaker 6 (20:51):
The suggestions about the museum and the park to contain
it are reflections of definitely adult thinking.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Well it was just, and so was the part.
Speaker 6 (21:00):
But your runner, if you think I'm a crooked, say so,
don't hide behind your children's skirt.
Speaker 4 (21:05):
I never said you were a crook. Never I merely
said that you were incompetent. Well, Robert, I never.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Oh you did, did you? Well, your honor, that's what
it was.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
He said you were in compliment and you want to
be out selling pencil. Well, I knew it was something
like that.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
I say, here, Anderson, you.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Tell him what you're gonna do to him next year, daddy.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Kathy, will you please?
Speaker 1 (21:36):
It's only a servant anyway, and if he doesn't stand
on his tonels, we're gonna fire him.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Happy be quiet.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
But you say it was a serve haaffy, and you
were gonna throw him out and put somebody else in.
And then you said.
Speaker 5 (21:49):
Want me to sit on our mom.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Anytime the mayor thinks he's bigger than the people, let's
both sit on her. It's time somebody did something out
of me. She bit me yet to put his hand
on your honor.
Speaker 4 (22:07):
I'm very sorry about this whole thing. But you see,
we were talking at dinner the other night.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
I love my dad, Kathleen, and nobody's gonna put him
in jail, Kathy, even if it doesn't have a k.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
What doesn't have a k Yonkers?
Speaker 4 (22:33):
I'm beginning to be slightly confused, well with my family.
That's an occupational hazard. We've confused more people to the
square inch than any ten families in town.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
But I'd still like to explain.
Speaker 6 (22:47):
There's only one thing I want you to explain. Why
didn't you write this letter what you obviously had a
great deal to say? Why didn't you say.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
It to me?
Speaker 4 (22:57):
Well, your honor, I wouldn't presume he's on my foot.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
You're run it.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
That's what I said, my foot.
Speaker 6 (23:04):
People vote for you, expect you to do a job
for them, and then what do they do?
Speaker 3 (23:08):
Nothing?
Speaker 4 (23:09):
But we didn't think it was our place.
Speaker 6 (23:12):
Well whose place did you think it was? How can
we do anything for you if you don't tell us
what you want done?
Speaker 4 (23:18):
Well, you were elected on a certain platform and I
have held to it.
Speaker 6 (23:22):
You wanted a progressive administration and you've had it.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
We didn't want it to tear Springfield a park. Then
say so, don't tell your children, tell us.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Go ahead and kill them park?
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Well, go ahead, all right. What do you want to know?
Why don't you like the new road? I do?
Speaker 6 (23:42):
It's just that Well, when I was a boy, I've
played on the steps of the old meeting hall.
Speaker 4 (23:48):
So did my father when he was a boy, you're
tearing down more than just a building. You're destroying a
whole page of Springfield's memory.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
And you suggested we turn it into a museum instead.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Is that it?
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Well?
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (24:00):
I thought you could move it a few blocks there's
a lot of vacant land east to the old Meeting
Hall and.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
Build a small park around it, something like that. Do
you have any idea of the cost?
Speaker 1 (24:11):
No?
Speaker 3 (24:11):
But the people.
Speaker 6 (24:12):
Do you think the people would stand still for a
bond issue to finance it?
Speaker 3 (24:15):
I think so.
Speaker 6 (24:16):
After all, if it's part of Springfield tradition, all right,
then we'll do something about it.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
Excuse me, Bill, Yes, sir, call the papers.
Speaker 6 (24:24):
I want a special press conference in my office at
five o'clock. Yes, tell them it's about starting a campaign
to save the old Meeting Hall for some of our
sentimental citizens.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
Yes. Now, is there anything else?
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Well? Our school gets out awful?
Speaker 4 (24:39):
Ma Hay, your honor, Do you still think I'm a
crook and a grafter?
Speaker 3 (24:44):
I never said that, your honor.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
I merely said that you were in conflict pathy. When
we get home, remind me Anderson.
Speaker 6 (24:54):
We're here to do a job as best we know how,
and it's up to you to see that we do it.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Are you the outset selling pencils, Kathleen? Please, oh daddy, there.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Your honor, all I ever said. You said you would
vote me out of office, didn't you? Well, yes, but
why don't you give me a chance.
Speaker 6 (25:14):
If you don't like what I'm doing, tell me don't
let me find out about it at the polls.
Speaker 4 (25:18):
Then it's too late, your honor. I merely said, we
want to.
Speaker 6 (25:21):
Do our job for you in the best possible manner,
but we aren't bind readers.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
You've got to tell us when we're off on the
wrong foot. Well, if you just.
Speaker 6 (25:28):
There's only one thing wrong with you, Anderson, and it's
the same thing that's wrong with most.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
Of the people in this country. What you need is
a good lesson in civics.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
During the year ahead, every pound of coffee you buy,
be sure of one thing. Be sure that you get
the most in flavor for your money. And that's something
the world's greatest coffee expert can help you. Find. Your husband,
he's the expert we mean. Just serve him a cup
of Maxwell House coffee. Then when he smiles and says
(26:21):
best coffee I ever tasted, you'll know Maxwell House has
the flavor that it's your coffee buy find out tomorrow,
bring home a friendly blue tin of Maxwell House coffee,
serve it to your husband, listen to him praise that
famous flavor, and then count all the truly good cups
of coffee you get from each pound at your own table.
(26:43):
Find out how much more you get for your money
with Maxwell House coffee, always good to the last drop.
Time goes by as time has a habit of doing,
And once again it's the dinner hour in the white
(27:03):
frame house on Maple Street. Considering that it's the Anderson's,
things are pretty calm, well for the moment at any rate, like.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
This, Let me see bread, butter cream, Betty? Yes, mother,
you better bring in some more spoons.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
Dear, Okay, dinner about ready, honey, just about come on by.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
Let's go upstairs and walk you bet stay dead.
Speaker 5 (27:25):
You don't suppose they'll put our pictures in the paper,
do you?
Speaker 3 (27:27):
Why should they?
Speaker 4 (27:28):
Well?
Speaker 3 (27:29):
I mean, after all the mayor said about the park.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
God, I'm perfectly happy just staying out of jail.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Hi, everybody, Kathy, where on earth have you been?
Speaker 1 (27:39):
I was out? Why is dinner ready, young lady?
Speaker 4 (27:42):
When you know it's dinner time, Why don't you stay
where we can find you.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
But I had to get down to the corner. What
for I had to nail a letter to the president.
Speaker 4 (27:51):
Oh at breakfast time, you don't have to say you.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
Children eat your cereal right this instant.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Just say hop Alon Cassidy is crazy about hot wheatmeal.
Speaker 4 (28:15):
Just a little psychology. Yes, to get your children to
eat a hot cereal, just tell them postweetmeal is hop
Along Cassidy's favorite hot cereal, and they lead it too.
Post Sweetmeal is chuck full of solid whole wheat nourishment
as a wonderful nut like flavor, and at cooks in
just three and a half minutes. You'll see you'll all
agree it's the best hot cereal you ever ate. Join
(28:44):
us again next week, when we'll be back with Father
Knows Best, starring Robert young Is, Jim Anderson, the Roy
Bargee and the Maxwell House Orchestra, and Yours tru l
a Bill Foreman. So until next Thursday, good night and
good luck from the makers of Maxwell House, America's favorite
brand of coffee, always good to the last drop. Father
Knows Best was transcribed in Hollywood and written by Ed
(29:07):
Jabs now stay tuned in for Dragnet, which follows immediately
Over most of these stations, Jack Weld and Dragnet Good
(29:28):
Listening Next on NBC
Mother, Is Naxwell House really the only coffee in the.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
World where your father says so and your father knows best.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Yes, it's father knows best.
Speaker 4 (00:21):
Transcribed in Hollywood starring Robert Young as father. A half
hour visit with your neighbors, the Andersons, brought to you
by America's favorite coffee, Maxwell House, the coffee that's always
good to the last drop. In speaking of children, the
(00:48):
poet Charles M. Dickinson wrote, they are idols of hearts
and of households. They are angels of God in disguise.
The sunlight still sleeps in their tresses, His glorious still
gleams in their eyes. Well, it seems like a pretty
good bet that mister Dickinson never spent any appreciable time
in Springfield, especially in a certain white frame house.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
On Maple Street.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
If he did, it's a cinch that he never stayed
for dinner, where the conversation generally goes something like this,
But Dad.
Speaker 5 (01:19):
I won't get my allowance until Monday, and I've only
got twenty cents.
Speaker 6 (01:23):
That's very interesting, Kathy stopped playing with your mashed potatoes.
Speaker 5 (01:27):
Yes, Daddy, it isn't as if I needed a whole lot.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Heck, what's fifty cents?
Speaker 6 (01:33):
Well, lately i've heard it referred to as a nineteen
fifty nickel. That was a joke, Margaret, fifty cents nineteen
fifty nickel?
Speaker 4 (01:42):
You see, I heard you, Jim Oh.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
I just thought, Bud, will you please pass the bread?
Speaker 5 (01:53):
Gosh, if you needed fifty cents and I had fifty cents,
you know I'd be only too glad to lend it
to you.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
You mean I can have it?
Speaker 4 (02:02):
No, that's wonderful gravy, Margaret, would you mind passing it?
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Betty?
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Please? Here you are?
Speaker 5 (02:10):
Father?
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Thank you?
Speaker 6 (02:11):
Say Mom, your mother's not going to lend you the
fifty cents either, Bud, so stop bothering her.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
I wasn't bothering her Dad.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I just thought, And if Bud really needs the money.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
This is Thursday, Margarety.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
God, he's allowance only three days ago. Well, how did
I know she was going to be a pig.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Oo? Marion Swift?
Speaker 5 (02:30):
Believe me, it'll be a long time before I invite
her in for another All all I said was would
you like them all?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
And you know what? She ordered?
Speaker 5 (02:39):
A triple deck, a sandwich and a hot fudge Sunday
with nuts.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
That is one of the unfortunate things about life, Bud.
All women are born hungry, Jim.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Especially beautiful women. I hope she gets a stomach.
Speaker 6 (03:00):
But Kathy, if you're quite finished with that construction job,
may I suggest that you put your potatoes to the
use for which they were intended.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Huh, eat your dinner?
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (03:13):
Oh what?
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Okay? Go ahead, dear say Betty, don't ask me for
any money. I'm bro she wouldn't even give any to
Billy Smith.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
Kathy, Wait a minute, you mean Billy Smith asked you
for money?
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Well, he said he needed eighty cents in a hurry.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
What's gotten into these kids anyway? Imagine a boy asking
a girl for money.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Well, they've been friends for such a long time.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
It's outrageous, That's what it is, Just plain outrageous.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
I think it is too creepers. It's only been three
days since I borrowed it from him.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
What were you saying, Jim?
Speaker 3 (03:56):
I uh, I was just how are you getting along
in school these days? Kathy?
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Oh? Pretty good?
Speaker 3 (04:05):
How about thirty cents? That isn't much. But please, I
was talking to your sister. What were you saying about school, Kathy?
Speaker 1 (04:12):
I wasn't saying anything, Well.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Say something about anything.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Okay, I didn't win the spelling contest today.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Well that's nice. Was there anything else you didn't win?
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Well, how did I know there wasn't any? K in civics?
I don't even know what civics are. You don't know
what civics is, That's what I said. You said you
don't know what civics are. Well, I don't, Kathy.
Speaker 6 (04:47):
The point Betty is trying to make is that civics
is in the singular, not the plural.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
They are.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Not they are? They is? I mean it is? What
is civics is, Kathy?
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Civics is a noun, and there's just one one Civics
like Yonkers, there's only one Yonkers.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Why are they?
Speaker 4 (05:21):
Yonkers is a town, It's a place where people live.
Why because they, Kathleen, eat your dinner.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
But you didn't tell me.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
I said, eat your dinner, Jim.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
I think you're being very unreasonable. Why don't you tell
Kathy what she wants to know?
Speaker 4 (05:36):
I did tell her. I told her civics was a
singular noun. What more is there to tell?
Speaker 2 (05:40):
You can tell her what civics are or is?
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Well?
Speaker 6 (05:46):
All right, Kathy Civics is it's the uh Dad, it's.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
From the Latin.
Speaker 6 (05:54):
Uh what do you call it? Which means citizen? And uh.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
You see, Kathy, the government is divided up into certain
groups and certain other groups. Now, the government has a
certain responsibility to the people, and the people have a
certain responsibility to the government.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Which is the way it should be, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Dan?
Speaker 4 (06:13):
But will you please Keith still I'm trying to explain
Civics to Kathy.
Speaker 5 (06:17):
Civics is that department of political science dealing with the
rights of citizenship and the duties of citizens.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Which is exactly what I just finished saying, isn't it, Betty?
Word for word, Well, it meant the same thing.
Speaker 6 (06:34):
Maybe I don't remember the formal definition, but I certainly
know the practical application of the word. And that's what
Kathy's really interested in.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Isn't it, Kathy?
Speaker 5 (06:43):
It is.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Take well, take Springfield for example.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
We know that we have a mayor, a city assembly,
and the usual city employees. Now each of these is
a public servant and his principal duty is to protect
the rights and privileges of the people.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
That's clear, isn't it. Jim.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
I'm sure that Kathy doesn't care about Margaret.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
This is very interesting. What was that, Betty?
Speaker 1 (07:06):
I was just clearing my throat, father, so I can
listen better.
Speaker 6 (07:13):
It's high time his family took a little interest in
something other than boy friends.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
In the price of hot fudge Sundays. But I didn't ask, mind, Bud.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
I'm explaining about civics. And it's very interesting, isn't.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
It, Kathy.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Oh? Sure.
Speaker 6 (07:26):
That's up to the citizens of every community to see
that their rights are protected.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
That's why we have elections, to keep the public servants
on their toes. I'll take the mayor for example.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
If we think the mayor is doing a bad job,
we don't vote for him again.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
We throw him out put somebody else in.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Betty, we'd better start clearing the table.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Okay.
Speaker 6 (07:45):
Anytime a public servant thinks he's bigger than the people,
well that's the time to watch out.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
I'll take this new highway. What right do they have
to tear down the old meeting hall for a new highway?
That's what I want to know.
Speaker 5 (07:57):
Don't take the cake, mom, all right, dear, they don't
mind progress.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
But there's such a thing as sentiment too.
Speaker 6 (08:04):
That building is a monument and it holds precious memories
for everyone in Springfield.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
But do they care.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
No, they're going to tear it down build a road.
And they didn't even have.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
The decency to ask the people if that's what they wanted.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Margaret, go ahead, dear, we're listening.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
We've taken just.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
About all we're going to take from that bunch of
incompetence in the city hall. After the next election, they'll
be out selling pencils on the street corners, and if.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
They think, Kathy, will you please stop fidgeting?
Speaker 1 (08:31):
But I don't understand something.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Well, I've made it perfectly clear.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
I know.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
But what are yunkers.
Speaker 5 (08:51):
For crying out loud?
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Kathy?
Speaker 5 (08:53):
You can trust me, can't you.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
You said you'd give it back to me on Monday,
and this is Monday.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
But you don't need the quarter.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
I do too.
Speaker 5 (09:02):
Look, Kathy, why don't you just let me pay.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
You the interest?
Speaker 5 (09:05):
I want my quarter, and next Monday I'll give you
the quarter and another nickel for interest.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
I want my quarter of all the stubborn.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
It's daddy, Now we'll see about it.
Speaker 5 (09:18):
A minute day.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Hello, here's your quarter.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
How about the interest and another nickel?
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Miser?
Speaker 4 (09:26):
Thank you bed, Well, what's going on in here? Oh,
not a thing, Dad, he's trying to borrow money. Look
out for him, Kathy, he's a slick one.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
Sure you have to worry about her, Jim, I'll be writing, Honey.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
There's a letter for you next to the phone ahead.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
I see it. Well, what do you suppose the mayor wants?
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Maybe he wants you to help him with something received?
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Your impertinence? What in the name of Margaret? Anything wrong, Dad?
Speaker 4 (10:00):
I've never heard of anything, Margaret, Margaret.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Just a moment, Dear Betty, Yes, mother, be sure the
peace don't boil over?
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Okay?
Speaker 4 (10:12):
How can you worry about peas at a time like this.
I've been ordered to appear in the Mayor's office tomorrow afternoon.
You've been ordered, yes, ordered to explain the impertinence in
my letter?
Speaker 3 (10:24):
What letter? I don't know. I didn't write any letter, Daddy.
What is it? Kathy?
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Maybe he means my letter?
Speaker 3 (10:32):
You're you mean you wrote a letter to the mayor.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Oh? You said he had no right to tear down
the meeting hall without asking you?
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Oh, dear, but tell Betty to turn the light off
under the peas, we'll probably be quite a while.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
Okay, Mom, Kathy, why do you do things like that?
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Well, I just said what you said.
Speaker 4 (10:56):
I don't care what you said. Or I said, little
girls don't write letter to the mayor. It isn't done.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Why because he's a busy man. He's got too many
other things on his mind.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
But you said he shouldn't build the road.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
I know what I said, and I still said, Jim,
I'm sure you can straighten the whole thing out, can't you.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (11:15):
Why does he address it to me in the first place.
I didn't write the letter, Daddy. If he wants me
to speak to Kathy, I'll be glad to the way
he talks.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
You think I wrote it, daddy? Yes, Kathleen.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Do mayors pay any attention to little girls?
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Of course not.
Speaker 6 (11:31):
They don't even have time to pay attention to big girls.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
That's what I thought.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
What do you mean that's what you thought?
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Well, after I wrote the letter, I figured maybe if
he found out I was only nine years old, he
wouldn't pay any attention to.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
It, So so.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
I signed your name.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Oh no, Well, that was a fine speech father made
(12:16):
at the dinner table, though mother did seem to have
some doubts. And yet there are some things every woman
loves to hear at her dinner table. For instance, best
cup of coffee I Ever tasted. You'd like to hear
those words at your table, wouldn't you, Well, ma'am, tomorrow
you can hear them, and from the world's greatest coffee expert.
(12:36):
That's right, because the number one expert is your husband.
Of course, to the coffee trade, we're experts too. After all,
more people enjoy our Maxwell House coffee than any other brand.
But the expert with the final say so, he's that
man of yours. And if you'll fill his cup with
Maxwell House, we're mighty sure he'll say best coffee I
(12:59):
Ever tasted. In fact, if he doesn't, we'll give you
your money back.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
That's how sure we are.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
You see, we know no coffee tastes like Maxwell House
because no coffee's made like Maxwell House. That famous good
to the last drop flavor comes from just one thing,
our recipe, a recipe demanding certain fine coffees blended just so,
and only Maxwell House has that recipe. So get a
(13:26):
pound of Maxwell House tomorrow, serve it to your husband.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
If he doesn't say best coffee ever, why.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
Just send us the can an unused portion, and we'll
gladly refund the price you paid. Our address is right
on every familiar blue tin. Tomorrow see how much your husband,
the world's greatest coffee expert, enjoys Maxwell House coffee always
good to the last drop. An ancient Greek named Euripides
(14:02):
is supposed to have said, the gods visit the sins
of the father upon the children. If that's what he said,
mister Euripides had rocks in his head, or else he'd
never run across a family named Anderson. With them, the
shoe is generally on the other foot, and now, as
they wait in the corridor outside the Mayor's office, the
shoe is definitely beginning to pinch.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Like this, Jim, the entire idea is completely ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
It is no such thing.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Making us drop everything we were doing just to come
down here and sit Margaret.
Speaker 6 (14:31):
If he sees me in the bosom of my family, yes, well,
maybe you'd rather visit me in the local jail, Jim,
and bring me chocolate.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Covered hack saws.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Jim Anderson, no one said you were going to be
sent to Jay, how do you know?
Speaker 3 (14:47):
How can anybody know? Until we find out what that
genie is put in the letter.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
All you have to do is explain to the man, Kathy,
did you call me?
Speaker 4 (14:58):
Daddy?
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Oh? What are you doing?
Speaker 1 (15:01):
I was reading a comic book? Why?
Speaker 3 (15:04):
Uh No, I was just never mind. Say did you
hear that?
Speaker 4 (15:10):
Dad?
Speaker 5 (15:10):
They're blasting for the new road Boy? That was a pip,
wasn't it.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (15:15):
It was fine. Where's Betty?
Speaker 5 (15:18):
She's around someplace, Betty good Well.
Speaker 6 (15:22):
I just thought, God, I brought you all along to
prove that I'm a man of character and substance. But
if you're going to stand outside the Mayor's office and
scream at the top of your lung me dead?
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Wants you Bud?
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Please?
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Margaret?
Speaker 6 (15:37):
I think they allow visitors in the jail on Wednesday.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Are we going father?
Speaker 6 (15:43):
No, We're not going in. I'm beginning to think your
mother was right in the first place. I'll stand a
much better chance if I go in alone.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
What did we do?
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Nothing? Nobody in this family ever does anything.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
You can get into more trouble than any ten kids
in Springfield.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
But it's a very strange thing. Nobody ever does anything.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
I went down to the end of the hall to
get a drink. What's wrong with that?
Speaker 4 (16:07):
I didn't say there was anything wrong with it. I
merely said, I'm thirsty.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
You stay right where you are.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
But they got a drink and you didn't tell her.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
She couldn't Margaret in one morning.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Let's speak to them. Dear Kathy, Betty, Bud, Bud Bud.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Come back here. I just want to look out the window.
I said, come back here. Holy call. All we do
is sit around this old hall. How long do we
have to stay here? Anyway?
Speaker 6 (16:35):
I haven't the faintest idea. Now look, you may all
think that this is very funny, but it isn't. I'm
in a very serious predicament.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Why, Jim, as soon as you tell him that Kathy.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Wrote the letter, he's going to ask where she picked
up the ideas. Don't you understand, honey, the mayor isn't
a stupid man. He knows the children don't have political opinions.
They're like parrots. They repeat whatever they hear.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Why don't you tell them I heard it on the radio.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
What on the radio that he's a crook?
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Kathy?
Speaker 2 (17:12):
You didn't tell the mayor.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
But Daddy said, you never said he was a crook.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
You didn't.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
No, I may have said a lot of things, but
I never said that he was a crook.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
Well I did, Margaret, mister Anderson, Yes, the mayor will
see you now.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Thank you very much, Jim Dear, everything's going to be
all right.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
The condemned man at a hearty breakfast. Well, let's go.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Fotter please, Betty, let's not say a word, not even
if he asked or something.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
Nobody's going to ask you anything. Just try to look human.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Are you sure you didn't say he was a crook? Kathy, Well,
somebody did.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
I think that's the trouble with his family. Too. Many
people try to think.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
Your honor, yes, James Anderson and family.
Speaker 6 (18:06):
Oh, come in, come right in your honor. Well, this
is a very pleasant surprise. I hadn't anticipated five Anderson's.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
You see, your honor.
Speaker 6 (18:16):
That will be all Bill, Thank you, yes, sir, Well,
now shall we all sit down and be comfortable?
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Thank you, your honor. You're very kind, all right, children,
your honor.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
Your honor.
Speaker 5 (18:26):
My father's a wonderful man, and every time he's been arrested,
it hasn't been.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
His father, Your honor. I've never been arrested in my
entire life, my.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Father, don't you remember the time you thought the car
was stolen and the police ready, Well, they said you
were driving a stolen car.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
It was my own car. It was a mistake.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Well, that's what Bud said, heady, Please, I'm just trying
to help your.
Speaker 6 (18:52):
Honor, mister Anderson. I received an amazing letter a few
days ago.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
I know, your honor, and i'd like to explain. I
heard you speak some time ago at a service.
Speaker 6 (19:02):
Club luncheon, didn't I. Yes, I'm the president, your Honor,
But i'd like to At that time he struck me
as being a fairly intelligent man, Thank you, you see,
your Honor, not at all the sort of man who'd
spelled grafter.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
With two teas.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Grafter, doesn't it have two teas?
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Oh dear, just one, Oh, your Honor. If you'll only
let me explain, there'll be lots of time for explanation. First,
permit me to say that this was a.
Speaker 6 (19:34):
Very remarkable letter, but it contained some very pertinent information
and a very valuable suggestion.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Your Honor. What I'm trying to say is it did.
Speaker 6 (19:45):
Oh yes, I've already had several talks with the City Council,
and we are all agreed that your ideas are.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
Not only logical but extremely helpful. Well, I wouldn't go
quite that far, your honor.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
Me Italian Cathleen be quiet days sick handy gee whiz.
Speaker 6 (20:08):
Now, for example, let's take the first point in your letter.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
The first point. Yes, now, there is a very wise suggestion.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
Uh, your honor about the letter, daddy.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
He means the part about changing the meeting hall into
a museum.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
All that part, well, it was merely.
Speaker 6 (20:26):
Outside of the miserable spelling, the aprocious punctuation, and the
weirdest grammar I have ever encountered.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
The point was very well made.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Your honor, what my husband has been trying to say.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Of course, the letter was obviously written by a child.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
How does he know that?
Speaker 3 (20:45):
And I'm quite sure I know which child.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Well, you see, dear, there was no need to be upset.
Speaker 6 (20:51):
The suggestions about the museum and the park to contain
it are reflections of definitely adult thinking.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Well it was just, and so was the part.
Speaker 6 (21:00):
But your runner, if you think I'm a crooked, say so,
don't hide behind your children's skirt.
Speaker 4 (21:05):
I never said you were a crook. Never I merely
said that you were incompetent. Well, Robert, I never.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Oh you did, did you? Well, your honor, that's what
it was.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
He said you were in compliment and you want to
be out selling pencil. Well, I knew it was something
like that.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
I say, here, Anderson, you.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Tell him what you're gonna do to him next year, daddy.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Kathy, will you please?
Speaker 1 (21:36):
It's only a servant anyway, and if he doesn't stand
on his tonels, we're gonna fire him.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Happy be quiet.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
But you say it was a serve haaffy, and you
were gonna throw him out and put somebody else in.
And then you said.
Speaker 5 (21:49):
Want me to sit on our mom.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Anytime the mayor thinks he's bigger than the people, let's
both sit on her. It's time somebody did something out
of me. She bit me yet to put his hand
on your honor.
Speaker 4 (22:07):
I'm very sorry about this whole thing. But you see,
we were talking at dinner the other night.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
I love my dad, Kathleen, and nobody's gonna put him
in jail, Kathy, even if it doesn't have a k.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
What doesn't have a k Yonkers?
Speaker 4 (22:33):
I'm beginning to be slightly confused, well with my family.
That's an occupational hazard. We've confused more people to the
square inch than any ten families in town.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
But I'd still like to explain.
Speaker 6 (22:47):
There's only one thing I want you to explain. Why
didn't you write this letter what you obviously had a
great deal to say? Why didn't you say.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
It to me?
Speaker 4 (22:57):
Well, your honor, I wouldn't presume he's on my foot.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
You're run it.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
That's what I said, my foot.
Speaker 6 (23:04):
People vote for you, expect you to do a job
for them, and then what do they do?
Speaker 3 (23:08):
Nothing?
Speaker 4 (23:09):
But we didn't think it was our place.
Speaker 6 (23:12):
Well whose place did you think it was? How can
we do anything for you if you don't tell us
what you want done?
Speaker 4 (23:18):
Well, you were elected on a certain platform and I
have held to it.
Speaker 6 (23:22):
You wanted a progressive administration and you've had it.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
We didn't want it to tear Springfield a park. Then
say so, don't tell your children, tell us.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Go ahead and kill them park?
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Well, go ahead, all right. What do you want to know?
Why don't you like the new road? I do?
Speaker 6 (23:42):
It's just that Well, when I was a boy, I've
played on the steps of the old meeting hall.
Speaker 4 (23:48):
So did my father when he was a boy, you're
tearing down more than just a building. You're destroying a
whole page of Springfield's memory.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
And you suggested we turn it into a museum instead.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Is that it?
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Well?
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (24:00):
I thought you could move it a few blocks there's
a lot of vacant land east to the old Meeting
Hall and.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
Build a small park around it, something like that. Do
you have any idea of the cost?
Speaker 1 (24:11):
No?
Speaker 3 (24:11):
But the people.
Speaker 6 (24:12):
Do you think the people would stand still for a
bond issue to finance it?
Speaker 3 (24:15):
I think so.
Speaker 6 (24:16):
After all, if it's part of Springfield tradition, all right,
then we'll do something about it.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
Excuse me, Bill, Yes, sir, call the papers.
Speaker 6 (24:24):
I want a special press conference in my office at
five o'clock. Yes, tell them it's about starting a campaign
to save the old Meeting Hall for some of our
sentimental citizens.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
Yes. Now, is there anything else?
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Well? Our school gets out awful?
Speaker 4 (24:39):
Ma Hay, your honor, Do you still think I'm a
crook and a grafter?
Speaker 3 (24:44):
I never said that, your honor.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
I merely said that you were in conflict pathy. When
we get home, remind me Anderson.
Speaker 6 (24:54):
We're here to do a job as best we know how,
and it's up to you to see that we do it.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Are you the outset selling pencils, Kathleen? Please, oh daddy, there.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Your honor, all I ever said. You said you would
vote me out of office, didn't you? Well, yes, but
why don't you give me a chance.
Speaker 6 (25:14):
If you don't like what I'm doing, tell me don't
let me find out about it at the polls.
Speaker 4 (25:18):
Then it's too late, your honor. I merely said, we
want to.
Speaker 6 (25:21):
Do our job for you in the best possible manner,
but we aren't bind readers.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
You've got to tell us when we're off on the
wrong foot. Well, if you just.
Speaker 6 (25:28):
There's only one thing wrong with you, Anderson, and it's
the same thing that's wrong with most.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
Of the people in this country. What you need is
a good lesson in civics.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
During the year ahead, every pound of coffee you buy,
be sure of one thing. Be sure that you get
the most in flavor for your money. And that's something
the world's greatest coffee expert can help you. Find. Your husband,
he's the expert we mean. Just serve him a cup
of Maxwell House coffee. Then when he smiles and says
(26:21):
best coffee I ever tasted, you'll know Maxwell House has
the flavor that it's your coffee buy find out tomorrow,
bring home a friendly blue tin of Maxwell House coffee,
serve it to your husband, listen to him praise that
famous flavor, and then count all the truly good cups
of coffee you get from each pound at your own table.
(26:43):
Find out how much more you get for your money
with Maxwell House coffee, always good to the last drop.
Time goes by as time has a habit of doing,
And once again it's the dinner hour in the white
(27:03):
frame house on Maple Street. Considering that it's the Anderson's,
things are pretty calm, well for the moment at any rate, like.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
This, Let me see bread, butter cream, Betty? Yes, mother,
you better bring in some more spoons.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
Dear, Okay, dinner about ready, honey, just about come on by.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
Let's go upstairs and walk you bet stay dead.
Speaker 5 (27:25):
You don't suppose they'll put our pictures in the paper,
do you?
Speaker 3 (27:27):
Why should they?
Speaker 4 (27:28):
Well?
Speaker 3 (27:29):
I mean, after all the mayor said about the park.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
God, I'm perfectly happy just staying out of jail.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Hi, everybody, Kathy, where on earth have you been?
Speaker 1 (27:39):
I was out? Why is dinner ready, young lady?
Speaker 4 (27:42):
When you know it's dinner time, Why don't you stay
where we can find you.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
But I had to get down to the corner. What
for I had to nail a letter to the president.
Speaker 4 (27:51):
Oh at breakfast time, you don't have to say you.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
Children eat your cereal right this instant.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Just say hop Alon Cassidy is crazy about hot wheatmeal.
Speaker 4 (28:15):
Just a little psychology. Yes, to get your children to
eat a hot cereal, just tell them postweetmeal is hop
Along Cassidy's favorite hot cereal, and they lead it too.
Post Sweetmeal is chuck full of solid whole wheat nourishment
as a wonderful nut like flavor, and at cooks in
just three and a half minutes. You'll see you'll all
agree it's the best hot cereal you ever ate. Join
(28:44):
us again next week, when we'll be back with Father
Knows Best, starring Robert young Is, Jim Anderson, the Roy
Bargee and the Maxwell House Orchestra, and Yours tru l
a Bill Foreman. So until next Thursday, good night and
good luck from the makers of Maxwell House, America's favorite
brand of coffee, always good to the last drop. Father
Knows Best was transcribed in Hollywood and written by Ed
(29:07):
Jabs now stay tuned in for Dragnet, which follows immediately
Over most of these stations, Jack Weld and Dragnet Good
(29:28):
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