Ma Perkins Fay is going to Marry Carl Michaels Date: Aug 13 1948

CAST:
ANNOUNCER
CHARLIE WARREN, folksy narrator
MRS. DAVIES (1 line)

MA PERKINS, elderly woman
SHUFFLE, elderly man
WILLY, young man
EVEY, young woman

MUSIC: ORGAN STINGS AT [X] BELOW-- ANNOUNCER: Seeing is believing! [X] See an Oxydol wash! [X] See how Oxydol washes clothes white [X] -- for life! MUSIC: ORGAN ... TAG, THEN THEME CHARLIE: Oxydol's own MA PERKINS. MUSIC: OUT ANNOUNCER: Today, the big news is reaching everywhere. News that now there's a great new Oxydol. A wonderful new kind of Oxydol that works such wonders we want you to see them for yourself. Because seeing is believing. First, clothes washed to a brilliant new whiteness -- a new kind of radiant whiteness in a single Oxydol washing. And second, clothes keep a brilliant new whiteness for all the years you wash them. They stay white for life. That's why we call the new Oxydol "Lifetime Oxydol." Many thousands of women from coast to coast have already been witness to the wonders of this new Lifetime Oxydol. And Mrs. Bill Davies of Chicago, Illinois writes-- MRS. DAVIES: My trousseau linens had turned quite yellow after being packed away during the war years. On the advice of my neighbor, I washed them in new Oxydol this wash day. And as I put those things away this morning, I felt like a new bride. Those sheets and guest towels had actually washed back to a lovely white again -- in that single washing! ANNOUNCER: You'll see it happen, too. And seeing is believing. And remember, with new Oxydol, clothes will never again get gray-looking as they used to. They'll keep a new whiteness for all the years you wash them. As long as you use new Lifetime Oxydol, they stay white for life. Don't miss this marvelous soap discovery. Lifetime Oxydol puts new whiteness in your clothes the very first wash. Keeps them white for life. You'll see it happen. And seeing is believing. Let Oxydol keep your clothes white for life. MUSIC: ORGAN ... INTRO, THEN BEHIND CHARLIE, OUT AT [Y]-- CHARLIE: And now for MA PERKINS. Well, Ma's daughter, Fay, is going to marry Carl Michaels on the twenty-first of October. On Friday, Carl went back to Chicago. But no sooner had Carl left town than Dr. Andrew White telephoned Fay. He wants to see her. And we can't help wondering, is there still some feeling between Fay and the dashing young doctor? [Y] Well, right now, it's about eleven o'clock in the morning, and Ma and Shuffle and Willy are in the lumberyard office. Ma's at her desk, and Shuffle is talking on the phone to a customer who-- (CHUCKLES) Listen. SHUFFLE: Okay, Mr. Guffey. I'll be there with the goods in two shakes. Sorry about the delay. Willy just forgot about it. Stuck the order behind his ear and he ain't touched the place since. (CHUCKLES) WILLY: (ANNOYED) What kind of a thing is that to tell a customer? I didn't forget about it. Stuff didn't get here till this morning. SHUFFLE: Okay, Mr. Guffey, right away. SOUND: PHONE RECEIVER DOWN WILLY: Ma, did you hear what Shuffle said? Mr. Guffey'll think I'm feeble-minded or somethin'. SHUFFLE: (CHUCKLES) MA: Willy's right, Shuffle. It aren't Willy's fault. Oh, on your way back from delivering the order, would you stop at the express office? There's some packages there. Er, for Evey, too, I believe. SHUFFLE: Oh, sure thing, Ma. Packages, huh? (AMUSED) More loot from the big city. WILLY: (LIGHTLY) Holy smokes. Did you and Evey buy out the whole city of Chicago? How many dresses can two women wear? MA: Ah, Evey was real careful, Willy. I was with her while she was buyin'. She wasn't extravagant, son. WILLY: Huh! Today, who can afford to be extravagant? Keeps you broke even if you're just economical. BIZ: (THEY ALL LAUGH HEARTILY) MA: Well, ain't that so? (CHANGES SUBJECT) Well, Mr. Guffey's in a hurry for his order. SOUND: SCREEN DOOR CREAKS OPENS EVEY: (OFF) Ma?! SOUND: SCREEN DOOR CREAKS SHUT BEHIND-- SHUFFLE: Wait a minute, here's Evey. Well! The Duchess herself in person. Just talkin' about you, Evey. WILLY: What is it now? One of those packages, C.O.D.? EVEY: (SLIGHTLY OUT OF BREATH) This ain't got nothing to do with packages. Ma, I come over to talk with ya about something real important. MA: Well! Good morning, Evey child. I'm glad to see you. Sit down, you look like you've been hurryin'. EVEY: Certainly have been hurrying. In all my born days, I've never seen nothing like this. The minute he's out of town, the minute his back is turned, we absolutely and beyond question have to put our foot down. WILLY: The minute whose back is turned? MA: Do you mean Carl, Evey? Carl Michaels leaving town? EVEY: I most certainly and beyond question do mean Carl Michaels. I just stopped by at the house -- you know, to talk to Fay; this and that. Well, Fay's in the kitchen making some lunch for Joe. Farmer's chop suey and vegetables, sour cream dressing-- Well, never mind about that. SHUFFLE: (AMUSED) Personally, I don't care much for sour cream dressin'. But go on, Evey. This gets clear like mud with every minute. EVEY: Well, Fay asked me to chop the celery. And we were talking about, you know, this and that. And how she's not going to Cape Cod until her honeymoon, and - and how Carl's family and his friends are coming down here in a private train. Did you hear about that, Willy? WILLY: What? EVEY: Carl is getting private cars for the wedding. They live right there, like in a hotel. I never even heard of such a thing. WILLY: Is that what you're so steamed up about? Evey, all big shots have got private cars. Now, listen, Mr. Guffey's waiting for an order. Shuffle and-- EVEY: (INTERRUPTS) No, that's not what I'm here about. I haven't even come to it yet. WILLY: (THROWS UP HIS HANDS) Ohhhh. SHUFFLE: Well, when we see Mr. Guffey, we'll tell him this one's on Evey. EVEY: Nobody's keeping you, Shuffle. Go on. It's Ma I want to talk to. SHUFFLE: Evey, you can't leave us hangin' over the cliff right while you're choppin' celery with sour cream dressin' or-- Ain't that where the last installment ended, Willy? Ma? Celery gettin' chopped? Talkin' about this and that? EVEY: Well, then Joseph, he come in for his lunch. This is at ten-thirty, just twenty minutes ago. SHUFFLE: (MOCK GRIM) And Joseph discovered the body? EVEY: What body? SHUFFLE: (HOOTS WITH AMUSEMENT) EVEY: Oh, Shuffle, no. MA: Go ahead, Evey. EVEY: And while we're talking, me and Fay and Joe-- SHUFFLE: (INTERRUPTS) About this and that? EVEY: The phone rings. WILLY & SHUFFLE: (MOCK REALIZATION) Ohhhhhhh-- SHUFFLE: --the phone rings. EVEY: Joseph answers, and who is it? It's Dr. Andrew White, and he wants to see Fay. (BEAT) Well, why do you just stand there? Ain't nobody gonna say nothing? SHUFFLE: (QUIETLY AMUSED) Um, that the big fee-nally, Evey, where we're all supposed to holler and scream? EVEY: No, not yet, because Fay is going to see him. Carl Michaels ain't out of town two hours, and she's running over to see the other one. Well, now, Ma, I leave it to you. What are you thinking this very minute? WILLY: Oh, for heaven's sake, Evey, you ain't got the brains you was born with. I stuck Fay on that committee personally. We're breaking ground for the new clinic, as you very well know. Dr. White's in charge, and Fay's in charge of the decorations, and that's all it is. SHUFFLE: Evey, if you're thinking bad thoughts about your sister, that ain't right. 'Cause I believe I was there when Willy was askin' Fay to take charge of the decorations, and Fay just absolutely refused -- for the very reason that you're so excited about now, Evey. Namely, in viz, she didn't want no truck with Andrew White. EVEY: Well, but I-- MA: (INTERRUPTS, SLOWLY AND SAGELY) Evey, Dr. White called up Fay for either of two reasons. First, he got to talk to her about the decorations for the ceremony this week. In which case, it don't make no difference whether Carl Michaels is here or Carl Michaels ain't here. It's like a business relationship between Fay and the doctor. Now, on the other hand, maybe Dr. White did wait to call Fay after Carl had left, because he-- Well, let's say, for personal reasons of his own. If it's the second case, it's real wrong of Dr. White. But in neither case is it wrong of Fay. Fay was home makin' farmer's chop suey and somebody called her up. How is Fay in the wrong, Evey child? She ain't. EVEY: (EXHALES) Well, what you say is right, Ma, as far as it goes. But you wasn't there and I was. And I seen what Doc White's phone call done. I seen its effect on Fay. Why, she got pale. She got nervous. It wasn't no business conference about red, white, and blue flags which Fay had on her mind. Now - now, let's be sensible, all of us. We're all older than Fay. And if she ain't gonna be sensible, it's up to us. Let's face facts. SHUFFLE: Evey, you're a-hollerin' wolf when there ain't a cloud in the sky. EVEY: (INCREASINGLY EMOTIONAL) I can see with my own eyes, can't I? And if we're gonna add up two and two-- Right while Carl was here, didn't Fay rush off and call His Honor, the Governor, when Andrew White got into trouble? Didn't Fay send Carl to the railroad station to meet me and Ma while she went tearing off to Doc White to help him? And she didn't even get back to see her own Ma for two hours. Somebody's got to tell Doc White to leave our Fay alone. Somebody's got to tell Fay to forget that Doc White ever lived. WILLY: Do you kind of feel that Fay's still got a soft spot in her heart for Doc White? Is that the sum and substance of it, Evey? EVEY: Soft spot in her heart, an' a soft spot in her head. MA: (QUIETLY ADMONISHES) Evey child-- (SAGELY) All right, like you say, we're all older than Fay, and maybe that gives us the right to advise her. But what can we do, Evey? You know we can't go to Dr. White. And is it really necessary to speak to Fay? This business of a soft place in Fay's heart? Yes, I - I think I've seen that myself. Fay herself wouldn't deny it. If things had been different, it might be him that she's engaged to, not Carl. We can't take those things out of our hearts so easy, Evey. But next month, she's getting married. And this month, I wouldn't worry too much. Fay is Fay. The girl that all of us have brung up. Knowing Fay, how can we worry whether she's doing right or doing wrong? Fay never done a wrong thing in her whole life. EVEY: That's very true, Ma. But she never acted like this before. WILLY: You know, I'm gonna say something now which I've never said before. Naturally, I don't have to tell you how much I think about Carl Michaels. Let's face it, he's rich, he's nice-looking, and he's crazy about Fay. What more could we want for her? But, uh-- Well, now, don't take my head off, Ma, but-- The thing is, does Fay love Carl? MA: (BEAT, CAREFULLY) I'm - I'm sure love means different things to different people, Willy. SHUFFLE: Willy, I - I was there the night Fay told Ma she was goin' to marry Carl. How'd she put it? She said that now she's lookin' for contentment. She feels relaxed. She's comfortable with Carl. Fay ain't no child no more, Willy. MA: Fay's been in a funny frame of mind. It started when I got sick. Fay got to feeling all grown up all of a sudden. Oh, I - I just can't bring myself to think that she'd marry Carl without no feeling for him, Willy. No, no, I've seen them together. She does have feelings for him. A lovely feeling. EVEY: All right, Ma. But how about her feeling for Dr. Andrew White? I'm scared, Ma. I'm scared. WILLY: (BEAT, UNCERTAINLY) Well, how - how about it, Ma? MA: (SLOWLY, DELIBERATELY) Oh, Fay's Fay. The straightest girl that ever was. We just got to remember that. She's wearing Carl's ring. And while she's wearing Carl's ring, she won't never forget it. She's Fay. And she belongs to Carl. She don't belong to nobody else. MUSIC: ORGAN ... CURTAIN ANNOUNCER: Now there's new hope for dingy yellow clothes. Now there's new life for your whitest towels and table linens. Because now there's a great new Oxydol. A new kind of Oxydol with a washing action so amazing it makes a wonderful change in your very first wash. It's a change so startling you have to see it to believe it. Unbelievable as it sounds, white sheets, shirts, table linens -- those you consider whitest now -- wash whiter still to a brilliant new kind of whiteness. And clothes that have become gray or yellow from years of washings turn white again. One Oxydol washing does it. And then, more amazing, as long as you keep on using new Oxydol, clothes keep a brilliant new whiteness for all the years you wash them. They stay white for life. That's why this new Oxydol is called Lifetime Oxydol. And washable colors, too, take on a vivid new brightness and beauty. Try this wonderful soap discovery next wash day. See how Lifetime Oxydol puts new whiteness in your clothes the very first wash. Keeps them white for life. You'll see it happen. And seeing is believing. Let Oxydol keep your clothes white for life. MUSIC: ORGAN ... TRANSITION ... THEN BEHIND CHARLIE-- CHARLIE: And so the whole family is deeply concerned about Fay. And even though Ma expresses her deep faith in Fay, is Ma concerned too? Well, Fay does see Andrew White, and Fay finds words on her tongue which surprise even Fay -- tomorrow. But now this is Charlie Warren inviting you to listen again tomorrow to Oxydol's own MA PERKINS. Same time, same station. MUSIC: OUT ... THEN ORGAN STINGS AT [X] BELOW-- ANNOUNCER: And reminding you that seeing is believing. [X] See an Oxydol wash. [X] See how Oxydol washes clothes white [X] -- for life. MUSIC: TAG