December 20, 2024 • 30 mins
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Quiet Please, Quiet Please. M m hmmm h.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
M.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
The American Broadcasting Company presents Quiet Please, which is written.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
And directed by William Cooper and which.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Features Ernest Chappell.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Quiet Please, but the night is called the Bond. M
h m hm. You would think that a man going
home after more than half a year here in a
little town in France would be happy. I came over
(01:10):
here in November on one of those polk war jobs.
I've been here in Vignicourt ever since. The house here
was built in thirteen forty one, and the old cemetery
off near the abandoned airfield can tell you how many
generations of Rucheforts have lived and died here. It was,
of course, the oddest kind of coincidence that I Andrew
(01:34):
Pierre Hhan Rochefort, whose family have been American since the
days of Lafayette, should return to his ancestral home. I
am the first Rochefort who has stepped inside this house
since the First World War, when Colonel pal Marie Rochefort
died at COMMANDI Dame Madame Simon, who owns the house now,
(01:57):
has been a most satisfactory toy. End of me to
Achmedali of Nmusa, my Algerian assistant, even if she does
have difficulty comprehending my French and I hers I have
succeeded in having the ancient piano tuned. There's an American
cook here in town who was a piano tune in
(02:19):
civilian life. And Achmedali and I have spent some pleasant
evenings alternately at the piano and in long and complicated
discussions of Christian and Mohammedan theology. Achmed shares with me
an inordinate admiration for the works of ravel, and in
particular the one called Bavan pouring on Fonte Deference, Bavan
(02:44):
for a dead princess. Do you remember? I remember that
this night we've been talking about the curious quality of
(03:04):
fatalism that colors the whole life of the Mohammedans. It's
all prescribed for us, the prophet said, before we're born.
You see. But you do admit that individuals can alter
the patterns of their own lives and of others, don't
you up?
Speaker 2 (03:24):
We only think we all of the landroom. Whatever we
may do is merely bringing to life the you know,
the cosmic playscript that is already written for us. We're
bombed by the script as actors are. As a matter
of fact, we are actors playing.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
Part in the drama for a comedy, a comedy that
we've never rehearsed, but unfolded for us minutes by minute,
our by all, stay by day.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Yeah, it's reducing life to a prison the un interesting formulament.
No by all means no.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
On the contrary, I find it provides me at least,
with it consuming curiosity to see what's on.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
The next page. Well, it certainly simplifies things, doesn't It
occasionally provide a supervise, such as the fact that I'm
not going to play the pavan again for you tonight.
What is written is written? In that case, I'll just
(04:34):
cross up the profit and play it for you.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
Then see who it is?
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Who? Yes, mummy, you know what's the matter.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
It seems the old gentleman has in some kind of
trouble needs me again?
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Can't he get through one evening without calling for help?
Speaker 2 (05:34):
I'm sorry, I really have to go, you know.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Yeah, all right, see you in the morning, then right
to night?
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Uh Ahmed?
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Was that written to turn out the lights?
Speaker 4 (05:51):
Will you walk with?
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Thanks?
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Mm hmmm?
Speaker 2 (06:37):
I like.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Who's that?
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Who are you?
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (06:50):
I am the princess.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
No, wait a.
Speaker 5 (06:54):
Minute, concert. I heard you trying myself. I wanted to
see you, say very nice, well, thank you?
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Where are you? I can't see you?
Speaker 5 (07:13):
Ah right here?
Speaker 1 (07:15):
I think you turn on the light. Why but why not.
Speaker 5 (07:24):
If you turn on the line, I'd have to go away.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Go away, go home? You mean.
Speaker 5 (07:34):
It's isn't exactly home, it's where I got.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Did you run away from your mother? No?
Speaker 5 (07:47):
I don't have any.
Speaker 6 (07:50):
Oh would you why?
Speaker 1 (08:00):
What would you like to hear the one I was playing? M?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
H yes, why do.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
You call it?
Speaker 6 (08:15):
Use?
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Do you have a name? Oh, yes, yes, that's a
very pretty name. M. Thank you.
Speaker 7 (08:36):
All right?
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Mm hmmm.
Speaker 5 (09:21):
Mm mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Yeah they're now.
Speaker 5 (10:03):
Oh it was you.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Well, thank you, I'm nice.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Wouldn't you like a chocolate bar to take with you?
Speaker 6 (10:15):
I don't know what they eat.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
It's nice to eat. No, thanks, Well, maybe your folks
would like it.
Speaker 5 (10:25):
I don't have any folks.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
You have me? Oh yes, sir, I have a wife.
M No, not yet. I wanted you could.
Speaker 6 (10:50):
Maybe you would want well, I don't know to 'em.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
I haven't seen you yet.
Speaker 5 (10:58):
Hum, how many you can if you really want?
Speaker 1 (11:04):
I'd like to very much.
Speaker 5 (11:08):
Now I have to go.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Would you like me to go with you? It's off
the dark eyes and it's late.
Speaker 5 (11:15):
Oh no, I'm not afraid if you got.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
In the dark. I felt the touch of the child's
lips on my feet, and I was conscious of the
sweetness and the sadness. That was almost a physical blow,
And she spoke again. In the darkness. I called to her, joan, wait, wait, child,
(11:54):
And then the door closed and I was alone. I
sat for a long time in the dark, thinking of
what the war had done to so many thousands of children, nameless, homeless, hopeless.
(12:14):
And it was a long time before I began suddenly
to wonder. This little girl, this little princess spoke English.
Where did she learn that? And where did she learn
the name of the song? Why was she afraid of
the light? And I smiled to myself as I thought
(12:36):
vaguely of a little girl ghost. But my dreams when
I'd gone to bed in the dark were of a
little girl who skipped by my side and called me father,
but who faded into nothingness when I reached for her hand.
(13:10):
The question offent about her. He knew nearly all the unhappy,
skinny children of vin your coat. None of that, I'm
sure I remember, I asked miss Lewis, the Quaker girl
at the little hospital.
Speaker 7 (13:27):
No, I'm certain I've never seen a child that answers
to that, you say, Joan, Joan, that's right, I've never
seen her. Well, you children appear almost every day.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
I'll watch for her anything. I watched the children of
the town from my office window. I found myself paying
only half parted attention to the pomderous trivialities that town
dignitaries brought to my best. I found myself listening for
(14:06):
a certain voice and the clamor of children playing sombly
in the street. You will pardon me. I am sure.
I've always considered myself a practical, down to worth person,
and I wish you to consider the effect that such
an occurrence has upon such a man. You can't understand.
(14:27):
I am sure that I was first at two almost
inescapable conclusions. The first that I had seen a ghost
I discarded at once, almost at once, the second that
(14:48):
I had had an extraordinarily vivid dream. This conclusion I accepted,
but actment. I am also.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Assuring your right, Daniel, there's a way you know to
make sure.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
I have almost forgotten that it wasn't merely curiosity. Something
about this sweet, childish voice had aroused sentiments to me
(15:28):
that I didn't know I possessed. Margaret and I have
been married seven years. We had resigned ourselves to the
fact that we should probably always be childless. The June,
the homeless, fatherless, netherless wife who had come to me
in the darkness. Might she not be the child Margaret
(15:49):
and I wish we could have? I determined to try
to bring her back. Yes, I admit I felt coolish
as I kept done on the dark at the piano
and that place my flashlight beside the keyboard. I was
to regret that it was very dark and very quiet.
(16:13):
As I began m hmm, this is nonsense.
Speaker 6 (16:43):
Will Ringer, Oh wackie Joe.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Where did you come from? Right? Yes? Where have you
been all this time? Child? I've been looking everywhere for you,
but you didn't play myself. I was afraid it wouldn't
bring you.
Speaker 5 (17:09):
Did you really want?
Speaker 1 (17:12):
I wanted you very much.
Speaker 5 (17:15):
I'm very good I would fail, nobody would.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Joan. Where do you live? Y?
Speaker 5 (17:30):
I'm not sure?
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Well what do you mean by that? I'm just not you.
Speaker 5 (17:40):
I'm don't remember fair.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Mhmm. Well, Joan, haven't you any parents?
Speaker 5 (17:49):
Parents?
Speaker 2 (17:51):
No?
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Are they?
Speaker 2 (17:56):
They're not dead?
Speaker 1 (17:58):
They just no, I don't understand you, dear, Why you
call me? Well? Is it.
Speaker 5 (18:14):
Percause you love me?
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Why is it?
Speaker 5 (18:19):
Do you love me?
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Yes, Joe, you.
Speaker 5 (18:28):
Have a little girl of your No, I wish I
could be a little girl.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Well, perhaps you could.
Speaker 5 (18:44):
I could call you Naughhan what.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Yes, and I would have a mama. Oh yes, I
wouldn't like you.
Speaker 5 (18:57):
Oh, I would like it very.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Shall I turn on the lights now so we can
see each other.
Speaker 5 (19:05):
You couldn't see me if you turned down the lights.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
I just.
Speaker 5 (19:13):
I'm not pretty.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
I'm sure you're pretty. I don't know. You'd have blue
eyes and dark hair.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
Yes, and you'd have a pretty little snub nose with.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Exact the way you want exactly me too, as much
as I do, Darling. Might not.
Speaker 5 (19:43):
All of that?
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Oh yes I would.
Speaker 5 (19:47):
I would love you and my mom's erry all my life.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Then it's settled. No, let's have a look at you,
shall we. I picked up my flashlight and pressed the switch.
I called John John, but there was no answer. I
sprang up and flicked the wall switch. The bare bab
(20:15):
hanging from the ceiling, through every object in the room
into bright relief. I was alone, and as I stood there,
dazed in the sudden brightness, I heard a small sound.
(20:47):
I need not tell you of the bitterness in my
heart when I realized what I have done. I need
not tell you of the agony that something racing into
the night outside, calling frantically for the child. I can
tell you of a doubt and wonder, the wild thoughts
that clutched at me. Was it a dream? It couldn't
(21:10):
have been a dream. Was it a ghost I had seen?
I couldn't bring myself to believe that. And yet I
took leave of absence. Ackman and I and Miss Lewis
searched every corner of the town. We took wrong trips
into the country, delved into ancient, deserted houses, questioned hundreds
(21:33):
of people. There is a single place to look. It
was a dream, But I knew it couldn't have been
a dream, and all my friends tried their best to
dissuade me. I could not give up my search. Night
after night, I said it with the piano, but never
(21:55):
the sound of a softly opening door, Never anything but silence, holitude,
and an overpowering sense of guilt, and I fell ill.
Auckman and Miss Lewis were with me a great deal,
watching me, nursing me, stilling my delirium. At last the
(22:23):
fever passed, and I opened my eyes to the same dingy,
ancient room in the house of my forefathers. Then, lying
alone in my bed at night, I came to the final,
inescapable conclusion. Joan did not exist. Joan had lived in
(22:46):
this house in some other time. Joan did not exist.
This was a haunted house. And I remember how I
wept alone in the dark one night, thinking how I
had banished her from me forever. I whispered her name
in the darkness. M h.
Speaker 6 (23:11):
M hmmm, I am alone in this room.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
There can be nobody that I listened again. M hm,
that's the song. It sounds as if a child is
playing John John.
Speaker 5 (23:54):
I was afraid you didn't want me here.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
You did come back.
Speaker 5 (24:01):
Do you want me?
Speaker 1 (24:03):
I don't know how we can do without you, Darling.
I know.
Speaker 5 (24:09):
I heard you crying in the night.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
I did cry, Joan. I know.
Speaker 5 (24:16):
I cried too.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
You know what I thought. You know why I cried?
Speaker 5 (24:25):
Yeah, you thought I would just go.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
But you're not no finny, and you are going to
be our little girl. You're sure you want me more
than anything else in the world.
Speaker 6 (24:48):
Would you swear yes, no.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Matter what, no matter what happens, and you always love
me always?
Speaker 5 (24:59):
Thanks, it was mine. If you can't seen me for
a little while.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Whatever you say, Joan, I can't lose you again. Thanks.
Speaker 5 (25:13):
If I'm different when you see me, How old are you, Joan,
I am?
Speaker 1 (25:24):
No, No, I don't understand you. Of course you're not old.
Speaker 7 (25:33):
No, I don't mean.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Why, darling, I don't understand.
Speaker 5 (25:40):
What you see? You have to take me away?
Speaker 1 (25:45):
I am if you really want of course. Yep, you
sound like a grown up when you said that. I
know what's with it, Joan.
Speaker 5 (26:01):
Thanks you take me for your very own, no matter what.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
And I spoke with all the deep sincerity of the
man entering into a solemn compact involving the lives of
three people.
Speaker 5 (26:17):
I do, John, I will love you as long as
I live.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Now, turn on the lights and let me see my
little girl.
Speaker 5 (26:33):
No, why not, darling, because if you turn on the light,
you can't see me.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
But why can't I.
Speaker 5 (26:46):
Why because I'm not born yet? You see, John, but
I will be He'll be your really truey own little girl.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
Is this true? Child?
Speaker 5 (27:09):
Yes, it's true. No, I can tell you the rest,
the rest what you said. I would be your little girl,
no matter what.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Yes, I meant you have to.
Speaker 7 (27:36):
He said, I.
Speaker 5 (27:41):
Couldn't tell you before.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Tell me what domb not?
Speaker 5 (27:52):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Fuck?
Speaker 5 (27:53):
I loved you so much? Can I just s.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
I wanted you to be my What is it? Child?
What is it?
Speaker 5 (28:08):
How do you not for so very long?
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Why? What do you mean by that?
Speaker 5 (28:20):
It is written I have to die and I'm eight
years old.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
And it was the next morning that Osman brought me
the cablegram from Margaret.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
He wrote it to me, our daughter born this morning,
seven o'clock, seven pounds, dark haired, blue eyed, loveliness. How
do you like Joan for a name?
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Love Margaret?
Speaker 6 (28:59):
You would think, Yeah, a man going home after.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Eight nights in a little town in France would be
a happy man coming home to see your newborn daughter.
Did song, couldn't you?
Speaker 2 (29:28):
M h m hm m hm mm hmmmm.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Mmmmmmmmmm m m m hm m m m.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
The title of the nice Quietly These Stories are bad.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
It was written and directed by Willis Coop.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
The man who spoke to you was Ernest Chappell, and
John Laser played Jodan, Donald Briggs was Uf Medali and
Nan Seymour was MS.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Willis Albert Berman played the music for Quiet.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Please.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Now for the word about next week, here is our writer,
Director Willis Cooper.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
Next week, after more than two years, this series of
Quiet please.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
Come to an end.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
And for our show next week, number one hundred and seven,
I'm giving you a play based on the title of
the series Quiet Please, and so until next week. At
the same time, I'm quietly yours, Ernest Chapel. This is ABC,
the American Broadcasting Company.
Quiet Please, Quiet Please. M m hmmm h.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
M.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
The American Broadcasting Company presents Quiet Please, which is written.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
And directed by William Cooper and which.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Features Ernest Chappell.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Quiet Please, but the night is called the Bond. M
h m hm. You would think that a man going
home after more than half a year here in a
little town in France would be happy. I came over
(01:10):
here in November on one of those polk war jobs.
I've been here in Vignicourt ever since. The house here
was built in thirteen forty one, and the old cemetery
off near the abandoned airfield can tell you how many
generations of Rucheforts have lived and died here. It was,
of course, the oddest kind of coincidence that I Andrew
(01:34):
Pierre Hhan Rochefort, whose family have been American since the
days of Lafayette, should return to his ancestral home. I
am the first Rochefort who has stepped inside this house
since the First World War, when Colonel pal Marie Rochefort
died at COMMANDI Dame Madame Simon, who owns the house now,
(01:57):
has been a most satisfactory toy. End of me to
Achmedali of Nmusa, my Algerian assistant, even if she does
have difficulty comprehending my French and I hers I have
succeeded in having the ancient piano tuned. There's an American
cook here in town who was a piano tune in
(02:19):
civilian life. And Achmedali and I have spent some pleasant
evenings alternately at the piano and in long and complicated
discussions of Christian and Mohammedan theology. Achmed shares with me
an inordinate admiration for the works of ravel, and in
particular the one called Bavan pouring on Fonte Deference, Bavan
(02:44):
for a dead princess. Do you remember? I remember that
this night we've been talking about the curious quality of
(03:04):
fatalism that colors the whole life of the Mohammedans. It's
all prescribed for us, the prophet said, before we're born.
You see. But you do admit that individuals can alter
the patterns of their own lives and of others, don't
you up?
Speaker 2 (03:24):
We only think we all of the landroom. Whatever we
may do is merely bringing to life the you know,
the cosmic playscript that is already written for us. We're
bombed by the script as actors are. As a matter
of fact, we are actors playing.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
Part in the drama for a comedy, a comedy that
we've never rehearsed, but unfolded for us minutes by minute,
our by all, stay by day.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Yeah, it's reducing life to a prison the un interesting formulament.
No by all means no.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
On the contrary, I find it provides me at least,
with it consuming curiosity to see what's on.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
The next page. Well, it certainly simplifies things, doesn't It
occasionally provide a supervise, such as the fact that I'm
not going to play the pavan again for you tonight.
What is written is written? In that case, I'll just
(04:34):
cross up the profit and play it for you.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
Then see who it is?
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Who? Yes, mummy, you know what's the matter.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
It seems the old gentleman has in some kind of
trouble needs me again?
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Can't he get through one evening without calling for help?
Speaker 2 (05:34):
I'm sorry, I really have to go, you know.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Yeah, all right, see you in the morning, then right
to night?
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Uh Ahmed?
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Was that written to turn out the lights?
Speaker 4 (05:51):
Will you walk with?
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Thanks?
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Mm hmmm?
Speaker 2 (06:37):
I like.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Who's that?
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Who are you?
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (06:50):
I am the princess.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
No, wait a.
Speaker 5 (06:54):
Minute, concert. I heard you trying myself. I wanted to
see you, say very nice, well, thank you?
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Where are you? I can't see you?
Speaker 5 (07:13):
Ah right here?
Speaker 1 (07:15):
I think you turn on the light. Why but why not.
Speaker 5 (07:24):
If you turn on the line, I'd have to go away.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Go away, go home? You mean.
Speaker 5 (07:34):
It's isn't exactly home, it's where I got.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Did you run away from your mother? No?
Speaker 5 (07:47):
I don't have any.
Speaker 6 (07:50):
Oh would you why?
Speaker 1 (08:00):
What would you like to hear the one I was playing? M?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
H yes, why do.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
You call it?
Speaker 6 (08:15):
Use?
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Do you have a name? Oh, yes, yes, that's a
very pretty name. M. Thank you.
Speaker 7 (08:36):
All right?
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Mm hmmm.
Speaker 5 (09:21):
Mm mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Yeah they're now.
Speaker 5 (10:03):
Oh it was you.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Well, thank you, I'm nice.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Wouldn't you like a chocolate bar to take with you?
Speaker 6 (10:15):
I don't know what they eat.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
It's nice to eat. No, thanks, Well, maybe your folks
would like it.
Speaker 5 (10:25):
I don't have any folks.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
You have me? Oh yes, sir, I have a wife.
M No, not yet. I wanted you could.
Speaker 6 (10:50):
Maybe you would want well, I don't know to 'em.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
I haven't seen you yet.
Speaker 5 (10:58):
Hum, how many you can if you really want?
Speaker 1 (11:04):
I'd like to very much.
Speaker 5 (11:08):
Now I have to go.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Would you like me to go with you? It's off
the dark eyes and it's late.
Speaker 5 (11:15):
Oh no, I'm not afraid if you got.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
In the dark. I felt the touch of the child's
lips on my feet, and I was conscious of the
sweetness and the sadness. That was almost a physical blow,
And she spoke again. In the darkness. I called to her, joan, wait, wait, child,
(11:54):
And then the door closed and I was alone. I
sat for a long time in the dark, thinking of
what the war had done to so many thousands of children, nameless, homeless, hopeless.
(12:14):
And it was a long time before I began suddenly
to wonder. This little girl, this little princess spoke English.
Where did she learn that? And where did she learn
the name of the song? Why was she afraid of
the light? And I smiled to myself as I thought
(12:36):
vaguely of a little girl ghost. But my dreams when
I'd gone to bed in the dark were of a
little girl who skipped by my side and called me father,
but who faded into nothingness when I reached for her hand.
(13:10):
The question offent about her. He knew nearly all the unhappy,
skinny children of vin your coat. None of that, I'm
sure I remember, I asked miss Lewis, the Quaker girl
at the little hospital.
Speaker 7 (13:27):
No, I'm certain I've never seen a child that answers
to that, you say, Joan, Joan, that's right, I've never
seen her. Well, you children appear almost every day.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
I'll watch for her anything. I watched the children of
the town from my office window. I found myself paying
only half parted attention to the pomderous trivialities that town
dignitaries brought to my best. I found myself listening for
(14:06):
a certain voice and the clamor of children playing sombly
in the street. You will pardon me. I am sure.
I've always considered myself a practical, down to worth person,
and I wish you to consider the effect that such
an occurrence has upon such a man. You can't understand.
(14:27):
I am sure that I was first at two almost
inescapable conclusions. The first that I had seen a ghost
I discarded at once, almost at once, the second that
(14:48):
I had had an extraordinarily vivid dream. This conclusion I accepted,
but actment. I am also.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Assuring your right, Daniel, there's a way you know to
make sure.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
I have almost forgotten that it wasn't merely curiosity. Something
about this sweet, childish voice had aroused sentiments to me
(15:28):
that I didn't know I possessed. Margaret and I have
been married seven years. We had resigned ourselves to the
fact that we should probably always be childless. The June,
the homeless, fatherless, netherless wife who had come to me
in the darkness. Might she not be the child Margaret
(15:49):
and I wish we could have? I determined to try
to bring her back. Yes, I admit I felt coolish
as I kept done on the dark at the piano
and that place my flashlight beside the keyboard. I was
to regret that it was very dark and very quiet.
(16:13):
As I began m hmm, this is nonsense.
Speaker 6 (16:43):
Will Ringer, Oh wackie Joe.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Where did you come from? Right? Yes? Where have you
been all this time? Child? I've been looking everywhere for you,
but you didn't play myself. I was afraid it wouldn't
bring you.
Speaker 5 (17:09):
Did you really want?
Speaker 1 (17:12):
I wanted you very much.
Speaker 5 (17:15):
I'm very good I would fail, nobody would.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Joan. Where do you live? Y?
Speaker 5 (17:30):
I'm not sure?
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Well what do you mean by that? I'm just not you.
Speaker 5 (17:40):
I'm don't remember fair.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Mhmm. Well, Joan, haven't you any parents?
Speaker 5 (17:49):
Parents?
Speaker 2 (17:51):
No?
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Are they?
Speaker 2 (17:56):
They're not dead?
Speaker 1 (17:58):
They just no, I don't understand you, dear, Why you
call me? Well? Is it.
Speaker 5 (18:14):
Percause you love me?
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Why is it?
Speaker 5 (18:19):
Do you love me?
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Yes, Joe, you.
Speaker 5 (18:28):
Have a little girl of your No, I wish I
could be a little girl.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Well, perhaps you could.
Speaker 5 (18:44):
I could call you Naughhan what.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Yes, and I would have a mama. Oh yes, I
wouldn't like you.
Speaker 5 (18:57):
Oh, I would like it very.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Shall I turn on the lights now so we can
see each other.
Speaker 5 (19:05):
You couldn't see me if you turned down the lights.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
I just.
Speaker 5 (19:13):
I'm not pretty.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
I'm sure you're pretty. I don't know. You'd have blue
eyes and dark hair.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
Yes, and you'd have a pretty little snub nose with.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Exact the way you want exactly me too, as much
as I do, Darling. Might not.
Speaker 5 (19:43):
All of that?
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Oh yes I would.
Speaker 5 (19:47):
I would love you and my mom's erry all my life.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Then it's settled. No, let's have a look at you,
shall we. I picked up my flashlight and pressed the switch.
I called John John, but there was no answer. I
sprang up and flicked the wall switch. The bare bab
(20:15):
hanging from the ceiling, through every object in the room
into bright relief. I was alone, and as I stood there,
dazed in the sudden brightness, I heard a small sound.
(20:47):
I need not tell you of the bitterness in my
heart when I realized what I have done. I need
not tell you of the agony that something racing into
the night outside, calling frantically for the child. I can
tell you of a doubt and wonder, the wild thoughts
that clutched at me. Was it a dream? It couldn't
(21:10):
have been a dream. Was it a ghost I had seen?
I couldn't bring myself to believe that. And yet I
took leave of absence. Ackman and I and Miss Lewis
searched every corner of the town. We took wrong trips
into the country, delved into ancient, deserted houses, questioned hundreds
(21:33):
of people. There is a single place to look. It
was a dream, But I knew it couldn't have been
a dream, and all my friends tried their best to
dissuade me. I could not give up my search. Night
after night, I said it with the piano, but never
(21:55):
the sound of a softly opening door, Never anything but silence, holitude,
and an overpowering sense of guilt, and I fell ill.
Auckman and Miss Lewis were with me a great deal,
watching me, nursing me, stilling my delirium. At last the
(22:23):
fever passed, and I opened my eyes to the same dingy,
ancient room in the house of my forefathers. Then, lying
alone in my bed at night, I came to the final,
inescapable conclusion. Joan did not exist. Joan had lived in
(22:46):
this house in some other time. Joan did not exist.
This was a haunted house. And I remember how I
wept alone in the dark one night, thinking how I
had banished her from me forever. I whispered her name
in the darkness. M h.
Speaker 6 (23:11):
M hmmm, I am alone in this room.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
There can be nobody that I listened again. M hm,
that's the song. It sounds as if a child is
playing John John.
Speaker 5 (23:54):
I was afraid you didn't want me here.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
You did come back.
Speaker 5 (24:01):
Do you want me?
Speaker 1 (24:03):
I don't know how we can do without you, Darling.
I know.
Speaker 5 (24:09):
I heard you crying in the night.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
I did cry, Joan. I know.
Speaker 5 (24:16):
I cried too.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
You know what I thought. You know why I cried?
Speaker 5 (24:25):
Yeah, you thought I would just go.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
But you're not no finny, and you are going to
be our little girl. You're sure you want me more
than anything else in the world.
Speaker 6 (24:48):
Would you swear yes, no.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Matter what, no matter what happens, and you always love
me always?
Speaker 5 (24:59):
Thanks, it was mine. If you can't seen me for
a little while.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Whatever you say, Joan, I can't lose you again. Thanks.
Speaker 5 (25:13):
If I'm different when you see me, How old are you, Joan,
I am?
Speaker 1 (25:24):
No, No, I don't understand you. Of course you're not old.
Speaker 7 (25:33):
No, I don't mean.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Why, darling, I don't understand.
Speaker 5 (25:40):
What you see? You have to take me away?
Speaker 1 (25:45):
I am if you really want of course. Yep, you
sound like a grown up when you said that. I
know what's with it, Joan.
Speaker 5 (26:01):
Thanks you take me for your very own, no matter what.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
And I spoke with all the deep sincerity of the
man entering into a solemn compact involving the lives of
three people.
Speaker 5 (26:17):
I do, John, I will love you as long as
I live.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Now, turn on the lights and let me see my
little girl.
Speaker 5 (26:33):
No, why not, darling, because if you turn on the light,
you can't see me.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
But why can't I.
Speaker 5 (26:46):
Why because I'm not born yet? You see, John, but
I will be He'll be your really truey own little girl.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
Is this true? Child?
Speaker 5 (27:09):
Yes, it's true. No, I can tell you the rest,
the rest what you said. I would be your little girl,
no matter what.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Yes, I meant you have to.
Speaker 7 (27:36):
He said, I.
Speaker 5 (27:41):
Couldn't tell you before.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Tell me what domb not?
Speaker 5 (27:52):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Fuck?
Speaker 5 (27:53):
I loved you so much? Can I just s.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
I wanted you to be my What is it? Child?
What is it?
Speaker 5 (28:08):
How do you not for so very long?
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Why? What do you mean by that?
Speaker 5 (28:20):
It is written I have to die and I'm eight
years old.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
And it was the next morning that Osman brought me
the cablegram from Margaret.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
He wrote it to me, our daughter born this morning,
seven o'clock, seven pounds, dark haired, blue eyed, loveliness. How
do you like Joan for a name?
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Love Margaret?
Speaker 6 (28:59):
You would think, Yeah, a man going home after.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Eight nights in a little town in France would be
a happy man coming home to see your newborn daughter.
Did song, couldn't you?
Speaker 2 (29:28):
M h m hm m hm mm hmmmm.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Mmmmmmmmmm m m m hm m m m.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
The title of the nice Quietly These Stories are bad.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
It was written and directed by Willis Coop.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
The man who spoke to you was Ernest Chappell, and
John Laser played Jodan, Donald Briggs was Uf Medali and
Nan Seymour was MS.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Willis Albert Berman played the music for Quiet.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Please.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Now for the word about next week, here is our writer,
Director Willis Cooper.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
Next week, after more than two years, this series of
Quiet please.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
Come to an end.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
And for our show next week, number one hundred and seven,
I'm giving you a play based on the title of
the series Quiet Please, and so until next week. At
the same time, I'm quietly yours, Ernest Chapel. This is ABC,
the American Broadcasting Company.
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