May 2, 2025 • 28 mins
An anthology series presenting original radio plays, showcasing a variety of genres and storytelling styles. Each episode offers a unique narrative experience.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
The National Broadcasting Company presents Radio City Playhouse Attraction two.
(00:29):
Before we raise our curtain, we'd like to take time
for a small speech. It amounts to this, thanks, thanks
very much for your many, many, very wonderful letters in
praise of our opening play long distance. Bowing to your wishes,
we promise we'll repeat it later on in this series.
(01:05):
Tonight's play is titled ground Floor Window. It was written
by an extremely talented young author, Ernest Knoy, with Bill
Redfield starring as Danny, and directed by Harry W. Duncan.
Here is Radio City Playhouse Attraction two, Ground Floor Window.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
I've been sitting in this ground floor window of ours
for twenty three years. Yes, ever since I can remember.
I've watched the girls playing POTSI on the sidewalk, the
boys playing stickball, dodging the cars, shooting marbles in the gutter.
(01:48):
I'm twenty three, now twenty three. It was six years
ago that I first saw you, a few with a
new upstairs tenants. There was a big yellow moving van,
the furniture, your father managing everything. I remember the first
words your father ever said to me. The first words
(02:12):
your father ever said to me were.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Hey, you, You and the window. There's seven ninety one. Huh,
I said, is it seven ninety one?
Speaker 2 (02:21):
He's asking him, but he's dopey. Yeah, what do you know? Yeah,
he's a regular goop just sits there all the time.
I can't see, Like I said, he can't even talk straight. Yeah,
seven ninety one. All right, you're moving in? Huh? Yeah?
Say the goof there. He ain't dangerous or anything, is
he him? Nah? He can't even got a chair. His
ma even has the tiest shoes for him.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
No, kidd Yeah, okay, rupee, this is the right place.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
We're home in the window, pops.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Never mind, Now go find a souper and get the
key to the apartment.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
He looks so funny.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Go on, you heard me find a soper. All afternoon,
I watched your father and another man carrying furniture and
trunks into the house. It was dark before the truck
finally pulled a word. The kids on the block were
shooting bottle caps under the street land, and the ice
(03:15):
cream man had been around twice. Jenny getting lazy.
Speaker 5 (03:24):
Let me fix you for this.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Oh no, Ma, not yet. I'll stay up a while.
Speaker 5 (03:28):
You had a long day, Denny. You should riff Ma
all day, you said, by the wo, let me alone?
Will you you want? I should get you some ginger.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
It's called I don't want nothing, Ma, Just leave me alone,
so you'll call.
Speaker 5 (03:42):
When you want to go to bed. All right, all right?
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Oh yeah ma, all right?
Speaker 5 (03:51):
Huh p.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
My name is Ruth. I moved in today upstairs.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
I saw hey, you amount if?
Speaker 4 (03:58):
I said, on the stoop by your win?
Speaker 2 (04:00):
No, what you mean, Dan?
Speaker 4 (04:04):
What's wrong with you? You make funny faces?
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Well, I can't help it.
Speaker 4 (04:08):
I'm Janser Papa. When he asked you a question this afternoon.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
I have trouble talking sometimes.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
Oh can you walk?
Speaker 2 (04:17):
No?
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Will you run over?
Speaker 3 (04:19):
No?
Speaker 2 (04:19):
I was born like this.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
You ain't really don't be, are you.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
No, it's just I was born with.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
That lady in the blue dress. She's your mother, ain't she.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (04:28):
My mother died last year. She had double pneumonia.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Oh that's too bad. Can a doctor do something else
for me?
Speaker 4 (04:37):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Well, my mother took me to the clinic when I
was four. They told her they couldn't do anything.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
That's awful. What is it?
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Well, the doctor said, cerebral palsy. That means something isn't
there in the park. That tells the muscles what to do. Oh,
that's what makes me make funny faces all the time.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
You don't have to tell me if you don't want to.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Oh, I don't mind you. You won't laugh at me, though, No,
I will laugh the rest of the kids on the
block do right. I'm used to it. I guess they
call me dope be dad.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
That isn't fairly netful, is it.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
No, it isn't my fault, Rupie, Ruthie.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
I gotta go upstairs tomorrow day.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Good night, Ruth.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Who's dods?
Speaker 5 (05:20):
Who are talking to?
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Denny?
Speaker 5 (05:22):
Girl from upstairs, the one who moved in today?
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Uh huh, she should shame herself with such a dirty face.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Her name is Ruth.
Speaker 5 (05:29):
Such a nice neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
She looks straight at me, Ma, So she looked at you,
the one I should put you to bed. Oh no, no,
that's all right, Ma. I want to sit up a
while longer. You go ahead. I want to think. I
(05:53):
watched you grow up, Ruthe. You washed your face now,
and soon those long black braids gave way to a
sort of soft tangle around your face. You went to
Douglas Junior High School with the kids from the block,
and after school. You used to sit on the high
brownstone stoop just outside my window and report on the
day's activities.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
The teacher don't like me, Dan right and go to
the whole class, she said, I didn't do my homework.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Well, did you well?
Speaker 4 (06:19):
Not exactly. I tried.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
You went to the movies instead. I saw you go by.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
Skip asked me to go. I don't see what good
algebra does anyway.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Did you have a good time with Skip?
Speaker 4 (06:29):
I guess so. We had a soda after you never
seen a movie?
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Have you done well? Ma was gonna take me once,
but she couldn't get anybody to carry me.
Speaker 4 (06:37):
It was a swell picture.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
I'll see one someday.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
What are you doing when I'm in school, Danny?
Speaker 2 (06:46):
I don't know. Watch the street, I guess.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
Don't you read well?
Speaker 2 (06:49):
I can't turn the pages so good. I used to
have a teacher come twice a week, but not anymore.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
See I know what I'll read you Saturday afternoon. I've
gotta read. I'm in Hope for school anyway, and I
just as soon read it.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
He Ruthie that Skip calling you.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Let him come over here if he wants anything.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Hey, what you're doing Ruthie just talking, So don't be Dad.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
He passing you shut out?
Speaker 5 (07:10):
That's all right, sure day, don't mind, do you?
Speaker 2 (07:13):
No? We're old friends, ain't we?
Speaker 1 (07:14):
You?
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Never mind, Skiff, you shut up anyway.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Poor girls are crazy, ain't they? Danny? Danny agrees with me.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
Why don't you go away?
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Skip, I'm going, I want to say, Ruthie.
Speaker 6 (07:27):
Uh, all the kids in school are going up the
river on the dayline Saturday.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
You're coming, ancient, I don't know, won't cost much. Look,
i'll tell you what. You come with me and I'll
get your ticket.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
Well, I was gonna read to Danny said, we're going
to Damn Mountain.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Joe Bogga's father's giving a hot talk for the whole bunch.
I don't know, Sims swell Ruth. Yeah, it's a lot
better than just sitting on a stoop reading all afternoon.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
I don't know yet.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Skip.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
I'll let you know.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
You went to Bear Mountain with Skip, Ruth. I wanted
you to Skip. Was supposed to be very funny. He
had an imitation of the way I talk and how
my face moves. I never saw it, but all the
kids in the neighborhood laughed. Every time. Saturday afternoon, I
(08:27):
watched the little kids unscrew the top off the fire
hydrant and run around under the water. I thought of
you on the boat, with the wind blowing through that
short tangle of hair. I think I enjoyed that trip
more than you did. He came home way after twelve alone.
(08:53):
The night was hot, and the whole street seemed to
be weighed down under a smothering blanket. You sat on
the stoop, and even in the dark, I could tell
you were crying.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
I am not crying. It's just hop.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Well. I didn't mean anything, Ruth. Then you have a
good time. Well, how come Skip didn't bring you home?
Your father will be awful, man, I don't care. Well,
what's the matter? You are crying? Ruth.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
Nothing.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Then something happened on the trip.
Speaker 5 (09:19):
It was Skip, wasn't it, Oh, Danny?
Speaker 2 (09:22):
He made quite of the way I talked.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
I tried to make him stop, but he wouldn't. He
only did it because.
Speaker 5 (09:27):
They all lasted. Danny, it was awful.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
You mustn't mind.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
Slapskip as hot as I could, and then I ran
into the cattle.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Please don't come home with him.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
I couldn't stand it. Danny as long as island.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
They don't mean anything, Ruth. It's just that I'm different.
I don't cry, Ruth. Please?
Speaker 4 (09:49):
Is that you, Rookie?
Speaker 2 (09:51):
It's Papa. He's been to Connolly's bar. I saw him
go by around ten.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
Ruth, answer, Papa, Danny's drunk. What'll I do?
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Didn't I tell you to get home before midnight?
Speaker 5 (10:05):
Papa?
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Didn't I say before midnight, didn't I?
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Mister gawer, what do you want a Well, Ruth was
here talking to me. Oh she was. She was talking
to me. She was, She was back around eleven. Why
are you lying half with it.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Like that?
Speaker 4 (10:25):
Why you little Ruth?
Speaker 2 (10:28):
I want to get upstairs before I beat your head on.
Mister Gower. You shouldn't do that, you overgrown idiot.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
If I didn't know that, your mama has to even
wipe your nose for Yeah, I stay away from Ruthie, See,
I don't want her hanging around here.
Speaker 5 (10:48):
Well, just stay away, Denny. That's what goller? Coming home
drunk again, Denny, Denny keop crying, No, mar what's then?
Can I do something for you? Annybody? You're crying nothing, nothing,
(11:13):
all right? So let me fix the pillow behind your back.
It's all crooked.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Mars stopped, Denny. I can't stand it any longer. Let
me alone, Let me alone, Let me alone. But my
mother fixed my pillow and brought me a glass of
water and wiped the tears out of my eyes. I
sat at the window, staring out at the street. That
(11:48):
night I dreamed I could walk.
Speaker 5 (11:50):
I was with you, walking by the ocean.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
We were running, hand in hand, sort of floating over
the sand, running running, and then suddenly I fell. I
couldn't get up, and you looked down at me and
said quietly, cripple. I was screaming when I woke up,
and my mother came running. She insisted on sitting up
(12:13):
with me all night. I didn't dream again after that.
You didn't come every day. You had a job after school,
and I'd see you go out in the morning with
your books and come back late in the afternoon. You
weren't really pretty. I suppose you always looked tired, and
(12:33):
you took a long time climbing the stool.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
Hello, Danny, isn't this a scort?
Speaker 2 (12:40):
You're tired?
Speaker 4 (12:44):
Sometimes I think you're lucky, Danny. I get so worn
out in the store I fall asleep over my homework.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
It gets tiring just sitting too, Ruth.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
See you know what I mean, Danny. Here, I'll straighten
a pillory. Wll me that you call it, Danny. It's
all twisted there.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
I couldn't reach it.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
I'm sorry, Dan, I didn't mean that. You know.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Oh it's all right, Ruth. I never mind when you
talk about it or anything.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
You're different from the other boys. I know, Danny, not
only because you're crippled.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
It's sorry.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
I mean, it seems like I can always talk to you.
Papa doesn't seem to understand understandy Sometimes I think you're older.
There is on the whole block that's real. I mean,
I don't know, I Danny, why did you seem kind
of good?
Speaker 2 (13:36):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (13:36):
I mean, it seems so so old, old, as if
you knew what was right. Oh, Dan, you always let
me talk to you.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Ruth.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
I get so tired. I need you to talk to Danny.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
You sat on the stoop with your in your hands,
looking like all the sorrow in the world, and then
you looked up and smiled at me, and I could
see tears in your eyes, and I was glad, Ruth,
glad you wanted me to listen while you poured out
the troubles of your eighteen year old heart.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
The war was over.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Now there was a big welcome home streamer stretching from
our house across the street to seven ninety four. Who
is that? It was Skip Parson on the sidewalk at
the foot of the stoop. He stood looking up at
me with his feet apart, leaning on a sort of
steel cane that reached up beyond his right hand and
clamped his arm by the elbow. Hi, Danny, Hello, Skip,
(14:48):
swell to see.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
You while on the stoop.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Hello, Skip, how you Rufie? I guess I kind of
joined your club? Danny there, I'm sorry, Skiff. Well, I
still got the leg, even if it is all scrambled up.
How you've been?
Speaker 4 (15:10):
Danny?
Speaker 2 (15:10):
All the same? You look great, I mean, except for
the leg.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
But the surprise is Ruthie. She wasn't pretty when I
went away. I'm sure you are, isn't she?
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Danny?
Speaker 2 (15:22):
You ought to know. I leave it to you.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
I guess never mind what the rbs Skip?
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Oh, free beers Mostly they're good, but at least accord.
At Connley's. Did you notice me weaving? That's the combat
infantry badge, isn't it. Yeah, I'll tell you a secret.
It's the only one that means anything to me. The
other stuff is the sweet, beautiful ladies off their feet coming.
I didn't think of it. I guess I should have
when you got home just in time, Skip, Ruth graduates
high school tonight. Hey, that's swell. Congratulations.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
What you should have told me?
Speaker 2 (15:52):
I'd have brought your prison or something, maybe flowers. Why
don't you go with her tonight? Skip, Mister Gower's working.
Ruth won't have anybody there wasn't goofy.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
You need somebody in the audience to clap when they call.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
My name, holding handed passons, I called me, how's this?
Speaker 4 (16:08):
I gotta go get dressed now. Oh, your flowers are swell, Danny.
Speaker 5 (16:11):
I'm glad in about an hour or maybe a little
longer outside a hurry.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Well, I gotta shave see you, lady, Danny, have a
good time. Skip. I saw you go off together to
the graduation. It was almost dark, and the street lamp
went on just as you passed under it. Our Skip
(16:41):
was wrong. You weren't pretty, but the light caught the
white flowers and your dark hair. They danced when you
tossed your head and waved to me.
Speaker 5 (16:51):
That's the gower girl going to graduation. Yes, Ma, I
think her father would come home to go with it.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
He's working, working, not working.
Speaker 5 (17:00):
A girl graduates only once. Who's dot with her?
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Skip Parson, he came home today.
Speaker 5 (17:06):
I already heard the shame of his legs. Such a
strong boy.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Oh she looked nice, Ma.
Speaker 5 (17:12):
She ought you made me buy expensive enough flowers. So
much money for a little girl like that. Oh my, Still,
you're right. Her father wouldn't get them in on graduation.
A girl should have flowers.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
They were pretty. She had them in her hair.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
Lucky.
Speaker 5 (17:28):
Skip came home, so she had someone to take her.
Everybody's got as troubles the whole world, nothing but troubles.
So you want ice cream the next time the man
comes around.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
He came home late. I heard you both laughing quietly
as you turned the corner, and when you passed under
the street lamp, I saw the flowers in your hair,
wilted and yellowing. Skip had tucked one of them under
his infantry edge like it was a button. Home, Dan, Hey, Dan,
he's probably in bed, Danny, what do you want to
wake him?
Speaker 4 (18:07):
For to tell him about graduation.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Give him a break. Let I promise it didn't keep
till morning. Danny won't mind.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
See. I wish she could have been there.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Why did I clap that? Really?
Speaker 4 (18:17):
Skip? It's oh, Danny's been something sort of special to me.
Speaker 5 (18:22):
Oh, Skip, it isn't fair.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
Why should he be like that? It isn't fair. Hey, hey,
take it easy.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
It's graduation night.
Speaker 4 (18:30):
He said he was graduate with me.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Sure Danny's okay?
Speaker 7 (18:35):
Say say you're not in I mean Danny's Oh, Skip, Ruthie,
let's walk out of the river.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
It's earlier. I can't.
Speaker 4 (18:43):
Papa will be home from work soon. You'll get mad.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
You've got lots of time, after all, you only graduate
high school once. So I really promise Danny was up
here to end. But the old man doesn't come home
till three.
Speaker 5 (18:54):
What do you say?
Speaker 4 (18:56):
All right? Always came, Lucy.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
They're drooping anyway. You might as well throw them away.
Speaker 4 (19:02):
No, I'll fix the pin. I want to save them.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
We can make it to the river and back before
your father comes home. I'd heard you when you called, ruth.
I don't know why I didn't answer, but I waited
up till you came back. I wanted to be sure
you got home safely. I was afraid your father would
come home and find you still out too, But he didn't.
(19:33):
It was a week later when Skip came by again.
He was wearing his old suit from before the war,
but his arm was still braced against that twisted steel
half crutch. He pulled himself up the high stool. Wow,
it's quite a climb. Why if I sait awhile? No, Danny,
(19:59):
You've got to help me me. I know, I got
a nerve. All afternoon I sat in Conley's bar trying
to figure out how I had to right. What's trouble, Skip, Well,
remember when I was a kid, I used to call
you a dope, Dan, Yes, I remember Ruthie socked me
for at once.
Speaker 7 (20:18):
I was imitating you on the boat coming down from
them out and see all off and sucked.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
I knew about it. Well, kids are like that, Danny.
You know that, don't you. I didn't mean anything special
I was. I was just you know, there isn't any excuse. Well,
I don't mind anymore.
Speaker 6 (20:31):
Look, I know it is anything like it. I mean
my leg in your trouble, they aren't in the same class.
But this morning I saw two kids following me down
the street, making like my brace with a steak.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
You'll get used to it. No, that isn't what I mean.
Speaker 7 (20:49):
I try to figure out how how I come up
to ask you to help. I wouldn't have had the nerd,
but Ruthie told me you always were a friend, Ruth.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Ruth, Yeah, I need you, Danny. You're the only one
who can help I. What's the matter? Nothing? You see?
It's an old man. He wanted to see anybody goes
crazy every night when he's working. Because I can't tell
where she is. She's scared of him, Danny, What do
you want from me? I gotta see you, Danny. I
(21:22):
just got it. She's gonna meet me over at the park.
She told her father she's gonna read to you. He'll
ask you, Danny. You've got to tell him she was
with you. I didn't know what to say to Skip, Ruth,
so I stuttered like I always do when I get confused.
(21:44):
Skip sat by the window and told me how pretty
you were. You weren't really pretty, Ruth, even on graduation
night with my flowers in your hands. I wanted to
tell him there were lots of prettier girls, so many others.
He could walk, he could find the others. Why did
he have to come to me? Why did I have
(22:04):
to help him? He stopped by my window before you
went to meet him. He sat on the stoop the
way you used to.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
How do I look to him? Oh?
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Fine, Rufe, just fine.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
I'm going over to the park to meet the sick. Yes,
I know, Oh, Danny, I love him. What's the matter, Danny?
Speaker 2 (22:32):
This gets a good guy.
Speaker 4 (22:33):
He wants to get married and go to California. He
knows a job out there where his leg won't matter.
Only it wasn't for Papa.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Can't you just go anyway? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (22:42):
But Skip and Papa don't like each other, Danny. Why
is Papa like he is? He's not really bad. He
worries about me that way, you know, And Danny, he
don't need to worry. Why can't he be nice? Danny?
Why can't he? Ruth, You've always been a friend, Danny.
(23:03):
I've always been able to talk to you. Remember when
I said I wanted to talk to you always, rum, Ruth.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
I can't even talk right hardly, even.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
If you couldn't move, walk or anything. You were my
very best friend on the block. You were my best
friend in the world.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Danny.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
You could tell what I was thinking. You knew it
without my saying anything. That's what I love about Skip, Danny.
He's so gentle and sweet like you. Sometimes I think
that you're Ruth. Danny. I'll write your offer.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
You're you're not going tonight?
Speaker 4 (23:38):
Are you tomorrow? Maybe?
Speaker 5 (23:39):
If Skip what I I hope you'll be happy, Ruth bens.
Speaker 4 (23:43):
Your head up, Danny. Well, your face feels hot, Danny.
Are you all right at your fever or something?
Speaker 3 (23:49):
No?
Speaker 2 (23:50):
No, I'm alright far it's so hot, Danny.
Speaker 4 (23:54):
Tomorrow I'll say goodbye like always, just like I was
going to school or something. But you'll know, Danny, that
don't goodbye?
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Danny.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
Oh, Daddy, Who are.
Speaker 5 (24:25):
You talking to?
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Denny?
Speaker 5 (24:27):
Somebody's bothering at me, Danny. What's the matter why you're crying?
That's no way for a man's wax. A man a
man who can't even button his shirt or tie his shoes.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
What kind of a man is that, Denny?
Speaker 5 (24:47):
What kind of a man that drools and.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Stammers when he talks like a baby?
Speaker 5 (24:55):
Denny, Your mom isn't you're my son? I lived in
the house with you for twenty three years. Oh please,
let's skip past. He went two years to award. Danny,
your wall went onsome when you were born.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
I know, I know.
Speaker 5 (25:19):
Your Ruth. She's going away, but you've still got to
live for heaven. So she goes away, Danny. It didn't
take courage till the twenty three years sitting in a
window watching the world run and play games.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
A man?
Speaker 5 (25:40):
Could there be more of a man?
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Mama? I love her, So now I sit by the
window and watch the street all day. I watched the
(26:11):
girls jumping rope and the boys playing stickball. You wrote me, Ruth,
but I didn't answer. This is the letter I write
in my head. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't
put it on paper. I'm twenty three years old and
I can't hold a pencil in my hand.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
That was Ground Floor Window Attraction two Radio City Playhouse,
as written by Ernest Connoy and directed by Harry W. Junkin.
Bill Redfield starred as Danny, and other members of the
cast included Bernard Grant, Marilyn Erskine, Anna Karen, and Arthur Q.
Speaker 4 (26:56):
Bryant.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
The music was composed and conducted by the to roy Shield.
Radio City Playhouse is supervised for the National Broadcasting Company
by Richard P. McDonough. Next week, the Radio City Playhouse
(27:29):
presents of Unsound Mind, written by our director Harry W.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Duncan.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
It is the story of Myra, beautiful, gracious, charming and
without a soul. It is the story of Caleb, her
war wounded husband, and of Jeff, the other man in
her life. We sincerely hope you will be with us
next Saturday when we bring you of Unsound Mind by
(27:56):
Harry W. Duncan. Attraction three, Radio City Playhouse m Robert
(28:30):
Warren speaking. This is NBC, the National Broadcasting Company.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
Mm hmmm
The National Broadcasting Company presents Radio City Playhouse Attraction two.
(00:29):
Before we raise our curtain, we'd like to take time
for a small speech. It amounts to this, thanks, thanks
very much for your many, many, very wonderful letters in
praise of our opening play long distance. Bowing to your wishes,
we promise we'll repeat it later on in this series.
(01:05):
Tonight's play is titled ground Floor Window. It was written
by an extremely talented young author, Ernest Knoy, with Bill
Redfield starring as Danny, and directed by Harry W. Duncan.
Here is Radio City Playhouse Attraction two, Ground Floor Window.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
I've been sitting in this ground floor window of ours
for twenty three years. Yes, ever since I can remember.
I've watched the girls playing POTSI on the sidewalk, the
boys playing stickball, dodging the cars, shooting marbles in the gutter.
(01:48):
I'm twenty three, now twenty three. It was six years
ago that I first saw you, a few with a
new upstairs tenants. There was a big yellow moving van,
the furniture, your father managing everything. I remember the first
words your father ever said to me. The first words
(02:12):
your father ever said to me were.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Hey, you, You and the window. There's seven ninety one. Huh,
I said, is it seven ninety one?
Speaker 2 (02:21):
He's asking him, but he's dopey. Yeah, what do you know? Yeah,
he's a regular goop just sits there all the time.
I can't see, Like I said, he can't even talk straight. Yeah,
seven ninety one. All right, you're moving in? Huh? Yeah?
Say the goof there. He ain't dangerous or anything, is
he him? Nah? He can't even got a chair. His
ma even has the tiest shoes for him.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
No, kidd Yeah, okay, rupee, this is the right place.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
We're home in the window, pops.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Never mind, Now go find a souper and get the
key to the apartment.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
He looks so funny.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Go on, you heard me find a soper. All afternoon,
I watched your father and another man carrying furniture and
trunks into the house. It was dark before the truck
finally pulled a word. The kids on the block were
shooting bottle caps under the street land, and the ice
(03:15):
cream man had been around twice. Jenny getting lazy.
Speaker 5 (03:24):
Let me fix you for this.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Oh no, Ma, not yet. I'll stay up a while.
Speaker 5 (03:28):
You had a long day, Denny. You should riff Ma
all day, you said, by the wo, let me alone?
Will you you want? I should get you some ginger.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
It's called I don't want nothing, Ma, Just leave me alone,
so you'll call.
Speaker 5 (03:42):
When you want to go to bed. All right, all right?
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Oh yeah ma, all right?
Speaker 5 (03:51):
Huh p.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
My name is Ruth. I moved in today upstairs.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
I saw hey, you amount if?
Speaker 4 (03:58):
I said, on the stoop by your win?
Speaker 2 (04:00):
No, what you mean, Dan?
Speaker 4 (04:04):
What's wrong with you? You make funny faces?
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Well, I can't help it.
Speaker 4 (04:08):
I'm Janser Papa. When he asked you a question this afternoon.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
I have trouble talking sometimes.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
Oh can you walk?
Speaker 2 (04:17):
No?
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Will you run over?
Speaker 3 (04:19):
No?
Speaker 2 (04:19):
I was born like this.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
You ain't really don't be, are you.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
No, it's just I was born with.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
That lady in the blue dress. She's your mother, ain't she.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (04:28):
My mother died last year. She had double pneumonia.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Oh that's too bad. Can a doctor do something else
for me?
Speaker 4 (04:37):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Well, my mother took me to the clinic when I
was four. They told her they couldn't do anything.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
That's awful. What is it?
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Well, the doctor said, cerebral palsy. That means something isn't
there in the park. That tells the muscles what to do. Oh,
that's what makes me make funny faces all the time.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
You don't have to tell me if you don't want to.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Oh, I don't mind you. You won't laugh at me, though, No,
I will laugh the rest of the kids on the
block do right. I'm used to it. I guess they
call me dope be dad.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
That isn't fairly netful, is it.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
No, it isn't my fault, Rupie, Ruthie.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
I gotta go upstairs tomorrow day.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Good night, Ruth.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Who's dods?
Speaker 5 (05:20):
Who are talking to?
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Denny?
Speaker 5 (05:22):
Girl from upstairs, the one who moved in today?
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Uh huh, she should shame herself with such a dirty face.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Her name is Ruth.
Speaker 5 (05:29):
Such a nice neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
She looks straight at me, Ma, So she looked at you,
the one I should put you to bed. Oh no, no,
that's all right, Ma. I want to sit up a
while longer. You go ahead. I want to think. I
(05:53):
watched you grow up, Ruthe. You washed your face now,
and soon those long black braids gave way to a
sort of soft tangle around your face. You went to
Douglas Junior High School with the kids from the block,
and after school. You used to sit on the high
brownstone stoop just outside my window and report on the
day's activities.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
The teacher don't like me, Dan right and go to
the whole class, she said, I didn't do my homework.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Well, did you well?
Speaker 4 (06:19):
Not exactly. I tried.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
You went to the movies instead. I saw you go by.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
Skip asked me to go. I don't see what good
algebra does anyway.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Did you have a good time with Skip?
Speaker 4 (06:29):
I guess so. We had a soda after you never
seen a movie?
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Have you done well? Ma was gonna take me once,
but she couldn't get anybody to carry me.
Speaker 4 (06:37):
It was a swell picture.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
I'll see one someday.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
What are you doing when I'm in school, Danny?
Speaker 2 (06:46):
I don't know. Watch the street, I guess.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
Don't you read well?
Speaker 2 (06:49):
I can't turn the pages so good. I used to
have a teacher come twice a week, but not anymore.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
See I know what I'll read you Saturday afternoon. I've
gotta read. I'm in Hope for school anyway, and I
just as soon read it.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
He Ruthie that Skip calling you.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Let him come over here if he wants anything.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Hey, what you're doing Ruthie just talking, So don't be Dad.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
He passing you shut out?
Speaker 5 (07:10):
That's all right, sure day, don't mind, do you?
Speaker 2 (07:13):
No? We're old friends, ain't we?
Speaker 1 (07:14):
You?
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Never mind, Skiff, you shut up anyway.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Poor girls are crazy, ain't they? Danny? Danny agrees with me.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
Why don't you go away?
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Skip, I'm going, I want to say, Ruthie.
Speaker 6 (07:27):
Uh, all the kids in school are going up the
river on the dayline Saturday.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
You're coming, ancient, I don't know, won't cost much. Look,
i'll tell you what. You come with me and I'll
get your ticket.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
Well, I was gonna read to Danny said, we're going
to Damn Mountain.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Joe Bogga's father's giving a hot talk for the whole bunch.
I don't know, Sims swell Ruth. Yeah, it's a lot
better than just sitting on a stoop reading all afternoon.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
I don't know yet.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Skip.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
I'll let you know.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
You went to Bear Mountain with Skip, Ruth. I wanted
you to Skip. Was supposed to be very funny. He
had an imitation of the way I talk and how
my face moves. I never saw it, but all the
kids in the neighborhood laughed. Every time. Saturday afternoon, I
(08:27):
watched the little kids unscrew the top off the fire
hydrant and run around under the water. I thought of
you on the boat, with the wind blowing through that
short tangle of hair. I think I enjoyed that trip
more than you did. He came home way after twelve alone.
(08:53):
The night was hot, and the whole street seemed to
be weighed down under a smothering blanket. You sat on
the stoop, and even in the dark, I could tell
you were crying.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
I am not crying. It's just hop.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Well. I didn't mean anything, Ruth. Then you have a
good time. Well, how come Skip didn't bring you home?
Your father will be awful, man, I don't care. Well,
what's the matter? You are crying? Ruth.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
Nothing.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Then something happened on the trip.
Speaker 5 (09:19):
It was Skip, wasn't it, Oh, Danny?
Speaker 2 (09:22):
He made quite of the way I talked.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
I tried to make him stop, but he wouldn't. He
only did it because.
Speaker 5 (09:27):
They all lasted. Danny, it was awful.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
You mustn't mind.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
Slapskip as hot as I could, and then I ran
into the cattle.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Please don't come home with him.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
I couldn't stand it. Danny as long as island.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
They don't mean anything, Ruth. It's just that I'm different.
I don't cry, Ruth. Please?
Speaker 4 (09:49):
Is that you, Rookie?
Speaker 2 (09:51):
It's Papa. He's been to Connolly's bar. I saw him
go by around ten.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
Ruth, answer, Papa, Danny's drunk. What'll I do?
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Didn't I tell you to get home before midnight?
Speaker 5 (10:05):
Papa?
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Didn't I say before midnight, didn't I?
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Mister gawer, what do you want a Well, Ruth was
here talking to me. Oh she was. She was talking
to me. She was, She was back around eleven. Why
are you lying half with it.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Like that?
Speaker 4 (10:25):
Why you little Ruth?
Speaker 2 (10:28):
I want to get upstairs before I beat your head on.
Mister Gower. You shouldn't do that, you overgrown idiot.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
If I didn't know that, your mama has to even
wipe your nose for Yeah, I stay away from Ruthie, See,
I don't want her hanging around here.
Speaker 5 (10:48):
Well, just stay away, Denny. That's what goller? Coming home
drunk again, Denny, Denny keop crying, No, mar what's then?
Can I do something for you? Annybody? You're crying nothing, nothing,
(11:13):
all right? So let me fix the pillow behind your back.
It's all crooked.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Mars stopped, Denny. I can't stand it any longer. Let
me alone, Let me alone, Let me alone. But my
mother fixed my pillow and brought me a glass of
water and wiped the tears out of my eyes. I
sat at the window, staring out at the street. That
(11:48):
night I dreamed I could walk.
Speaker 5 (11:50):
I was with you, walking by the ocean.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
We were running, hand in hand, sort of floating over
the sand, running running, and then suddenly I fell. I
couldn't get up, and you looked down at me and
said quietly, cripple. I was screaming when I woke up,
and my mother came running. She insisted on sitting up
(12:13):
with me all night. I didn't dream again after that.
You didn't come every day. You had a job after school,
and I'd see you go out in the morning with
your books and come back late in the afternoon. You
weren't really pretty. I suppose you always looked tired, and
(12:33):
you took a long time climbing the stool.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
Hello, Danny, isn't this a scort?
Speaker 2 (12:40):
You're tired?
Speaker 4 (12:44):
Sometimes I think you're lucky, Danny. I get so worn
out in the store I fall asleep over my homework.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
It gets tiring just sitting too, Ruth.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
See you know what I mean, Danny. Here, I'll straighten
a pillory. Wll me that you call it, Danny. It's
all twisted there.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
I couldn't reach it.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
I'm sorry, Dan, I didn't mean that. You know.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Oh it's all right, Ruth. I never mind when you
talk about it or anything.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
You're different from the other boys. I know, Danny, not
only because you're crippled.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
It's sorry.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
I mean, it seems like I can always talk to you.
Papa doesn't seem to understand understandy Sometimes I think you're older.
There is on the whole block that's real. I mean,
I don't know, I Danny, why did you seem kind
of good?
Speaker 2 (13:36):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (13:36):
I mean, it seems so so old, old, as if
you knew what was right. Oh, Dan, you always let
me talk to you.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Ruth.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
I get so tired. I need you to talk to Danny.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
You sat on the stoop with your in your hands,
looking like all the sorrow in the world, and then
you looked up and smiled at me, and I could
see tears in your eyes, and I was glad, Ruth,
glad you wanted me to listen while you poured out
the troubles of your eighteen year old heart.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
The war was over.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Now there was a big welcome home streamer stretching from
our house across the street to seven ninety four. Who
is that? It was Skip Parson on the sidewalk at
the foot of the stoop. He stood looking up at
me with his feet apart, leaning on a sort of
steel cane that reached up beyond his right hand and
clamped his arm by the elbow. Hi, Danny, Hello, Skip,
(14:48):
swell to see.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
You while on the stoop.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Hello, Skip, how you Rufie? I guess I kind of
joined your club? Danny there, I'm sorry, Skiff. Well, I
still got the leg, even if it is all scrambled up.
How you've been?
Speaker 4 (15:10):
Danny?
Speaker 2 (15:10):
All the same? You look great, I mean, except for
the leg.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
But the surprise is Ruthie. She wasn't pretty when I
went away. I'm sure you are, isn't she?
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Danny?
Speaker 2 (15:22):
You ought to know. I leave it to you.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
I guess never mind what the rbs Skip?
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Oh, free beers Mostly they're good, but at least accord.
At Connley's. Did you notice me weaving? That's the combat
infantry badge, isn't it. Yeah, I'll tell you a secret.
It's the only one that means anything to me. The
other stuff is the sweet, beautiful ladies off their feet coming.
I didn't think of it. I guess I should have
when you got home just in time, Skip, Ruth graduates
high school tonight. Hey, that's swell. Congratulations.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
What you should have told me?
Speaker 2 (15:52):
I'd have brought your prison or something, maybe flowers. Why
don't you go with her tonight? Skip, Mister Gower's working.
Ruth won't have anybody there wasn't goofy.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
You need somebody in the audience to clap when they call.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
My name, holding handed passons, I called me, how's this?
Speaker 4 (16:08):
I gotta go get dressed now. Oh, your flowers are swell, Danny.
Speaker 5 (16:11):
I'm glad in about an hour or maybe a little
longer outside a hurry.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Well, I gotta shave see you, lady, Danny, have a
good time. Skip. I saw you go off together to
the graduation. It was almost dark, and the street lamp
went on just as you passed under it. Our Skip
(16:41):
was wrong. You weren't pretty, but the light caught the
white flowers and your dark hair. They danced when you
tossed your head and waved to me.
Speaker 5 (16:51):
That's the gower girl going to graduation. Yes, Ma, I
think her father would come home to go with it.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
He's working, working, not working.
Speaker 5 (17:00):
A girl graduates only once. Who's dot with her?
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Skip Parson, he came home today.
Speaker 5 (17:06):
I already heard the shame of his legs. Such a
strong boy.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Oh she looked nice, Ma.
Speaker 5 (17:12):
She ought you made me buy expensive enough flowers. So
much money for a little girl like that. Oh my, Still,
you're right. Her father wouldn't get them in on graduation.
A girl should have flowers.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
They were pretty. She had them in her hair.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
Lucky.
Speaker 5 (17:28):
Skip came home, so she had someone to take her.
Everybody's got as troubles the whole world, nothing but troubles.
So you want ice cream the next time the man
comes around.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
He came home late. I heard you both laughing quietly
as you turned the corner, and when you passed under
the street lamp, I saw the flowers in your hair,
wilted and yellowing. Skip had tucked one of them under
his infantry edge like it was a button. Home, Dan, Hey, Dan,
he's probably in bed, Danny, what do you want to
wake him?
Speaker 4 (18:07):
For to tell him about graduation.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Give him a break. Let I promise it didn't keep
till morning. Danny won't mind.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
See. I wish she could have been there.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Why did I clap that? Really?
Speaker 4 (18:17):
Skip? It's oh, Danny's been something sort of special to me.
Speaker 5 (18:22):
Oh, Skip, it isn't fair.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
Why should he be like that? It isn't fair. Hey, hey,
take it easy.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
It's graduation night.
Speaker 4 (18:30):
He said he was graduate with me.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Sure Danny's okay?
Speaker 7 (18:35):
Say say you're not in I mean Danny's Oh, Skip, Ruthie,
let's walk out of the river.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
It's earlier. I can't.
Speaker 4 (18:43):
Papa will be home from work soon. You'll get mad.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
You've got lots of time, after all, you only graduate
high school once. So I really promise Danny was up
here to end. But the old man doesn't come home
till three.
Speaker 5 (18:54):
What do you say?
Speaker 4 (18:56):
All right? Always came, Lucy.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
They're drooping anyway. You might as well throw them away.
Speaker 4 (19:02):
No, I'll fix the pin. I want to save them.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
We can make it to the river and back before
your father comes home. I'd heard you when you called, ruth.
I don't know why I didn't answer, but I waited
up till you came back. I wanted to be sure
you got home safely. I was afraid your father would
come home and find you still out too, But he didn't.
(19:33):
It was a week later when Skip came by again.
He was wearing his old suit from before the war,
but his arm was still braced against that twisted steel
half crutch. He pulled himself up the high stool. Wow,
it's quite a climb. Why if I sait awhile? No, Danny,
(19:59):
You've got to help me me. I know, I got
a nerve. All afternoon I sat in Conley's bar trying
to figure out how I had to right. What's trouble, Skip, Well,
remember when I was a kid, I used to call
you a dope, Dan, Yes, I remember Ruthie socked me
for at once.
Speaker 7 (20:18):
I was imitating you on the boat coming down from
them out and see all off and sucked.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
I knew about it. Well, kids are like that, Danny.
You know that, don't you. I didn't mean anything special
I was. I was just you know, there isn't any excuse. Well,
I don't mind anymore.
Speaker 6 (20:31):
Look, I know it is anything like it. I mean
my leg in your trouble, they aren't in the same class.
But this morning I saw two kids following me down
the street, making like my brace with a steak.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
You'll get used to it. No, that isn't what I mean.
Speaker 7 (20:49):
I try to figure out how how I come up
to ask you to help. I wouldn't have had the nerd,
but Ruthie told me you always were a friend, Ruth.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Ruth, Yeah, I need you, Danny. You're the only one
who can help I. What's the matter? Nothing? You see?
It's an old man. He wanted to see anybody goes
crazy every night when he's working. Because I can't tell
where she is. She's scared of him, Danny, What do
you want from me? I gotta see you, Danny. I
(21:22):
just got it. She's gonna meet me over at the park.
She told her father she's gonna read to you. He'll
ask you, Danny. You've got to tell him she was
with you. I didn't know what to say to Skip, Ruth,
so I stuttered like I always do when I get confused.
(21:44):
Skip sat by the window and told me how pretty
you were. You weren't really pretty, Ruth, even on graduation
night with my flowers in your hands. I wanted to
tell him there were lots of prettier girls, so many others.
He could walk, he could find the others. Why did
he have to come to me? Why did I have
(22:04):
to help him? He stopped by my window before you
went to meet him. He sat on the stoop the
way you used to.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
How do I look to him? Oh?
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Fine, Rufe, just fine.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
I'm going over to the park to meet the sick. Yes,
I know, Oh, Danny, I love him. What's the matter, Danny?
Speaker 2 (22:32):
This gets a good guy.
Speaker 4 (22:33):
He wants to get married and go to California. He
knows a job out there where his leg won't matter.
Only it wasn't for Papa.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Can't you just go anyway? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (22:42):
But Skip and Papa don't like each other, Danny. Why
is Papa like he is? He's not really bad. He
worries about me that way, you know, And Danny, he
don't need to worry. Why can't he be nice? Danny?
Why can't he? Ruth, You've always been a friend, Danny.
(23:03):
I've always been able to talk to you. Remember when
I said I wanted to talk to you always, rum, Ruth.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
I can't even talk right hardly, even.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
If you couldn't move, walk or anything. You were my
very best friend on the block. You were my best
friend in the world.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Danny.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
You could tell what I was thinking. You knew it
without my saying anything. That's what I love about Skip, Danny.
He's so gentle and sweet like you. Sometimes I think
that you're Ruth. Danny. I'll write your offer.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
You're you're not going tonight?
Speaker 4 (23:38):
Are you tomorrow? Maybe?
Speaker 5 (23:39):
If Skip what I I hope you'll be happy, Ruth bens.
Speaker 4 (23:43):
Your head up, Danny. Well, your face feels hot, Danny.
Are you all right at your fever or something?
Speaker 3 (23:49):
No?
Speaker 2 (23:50):
No, I'm alright far it's so hot, Danny.
Speaker 4 (23:54):
Tomorrow I'll say goodbye like always, just like I was
going to school or something. But you'll know, Danny, that
don't goodbye?
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Danny.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
Oh, Daddy, Who are.
Speaker 5 (24:25):
You talking to?
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Denny?
Speaker 5 (24:27):
Somebody's bothering at me, Danny. What's the matter why you're crying?
That's no way for a man's wax. A man a
man who can't even button his shirt or tie his shoes.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
What kind of a man is that, Denny?
Speaker 5 (24:47):
What kind of a man that drools and.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Stammers when he talks like a baby?
Speaker 5 (24:55):
Denny, Your mom isn't you're my son? I lived in
the house with you for twenty three years. Oh please,
let's skip past. He went two years to award. Danny,
your wall went onsome when you were born.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
I know, I know.
Speaker 5 (25:19):
Your Ruth. She's going away, but you've still got to
live for heaven. So she goes away, Danny. It didn't
take courage till the twenty three years sitting in a
window watching the world run and play games.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
A man?
Speaker 5 (25:40):
Could there be more of a man?
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Mama? I love her, So now I sit by the
window and watch the street all day. I watched the
(26:11):
girls jumping rope and the boys playing stickball. You wrote me, Ruth,
but I didn't answer. This is the letter I write
in my head. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't
put it on paper. I'm twenty three years old and
I can't hold a pencil in my hand.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
That was Ground Floor Window Attraction two Radio City Playhouse,
as written by Ernest Connoy and directed by Harry W. Junkin.
Bill Redfield starred as Danny, and other members of the
cast included Bernard Grant, Marilyn Erskine, Anna Karen, and Arthur Q.
Speaker 4 (26:56):
Bryant.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
The music was composed and conducted by the to roy Shield.
Radio City Playhouse is supervised for the National Broadcasting Company
by Richard P. McDonough. Next week, the Radio City Playhouse
(27:29):
presents of Unsound Mind, written by our director Harry W.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Duncan.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
It is the story of Myra, beautiful, gracious, charming and
without a soul. It is the story of Caleb, her
war wounded husband, and of Jeff, the other man in
her life. We sincerely hope you will be with us
next Saturday when we bring you of Unsound Mind by
(27:56):
Harry W. Duncan. Attraction three, Radio City Playhouse m Robert
(28:30):
Warren speaking. This is NBC, the National Broadcasting Company.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
Mm hmmm
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