Your Coca-Cola Bottler presents Claudia, based on the famous play and novels by Rose Franken, brought to you transcribed Monday through Friday by your friendly neighbor who bottles Coca-Cola. Relax, and while you're listening, refresh yourself. Have a Coke. And now, Claudia. There it is, Mama, right down the bend of the road, Jared Tucker's house. He didn't know what he led himself in for, having you two as neighbors. And boarding our cat and dog in the bargain. Hey, I don't see any sign of bluff, do you? Nary a sign. Jared probably has him out back somewhere. Do you see Shakespeare? If I can't see a great day, how can I possibly see a cat? Do you think he'll know us? He'll know you, but there's a serious question whether he'll be on speaking terms with you. Anybody who'd run off to New York and leave a great day with strangers for five days doesn't deserve to be spoken to by the great day. Well, Jared Tucker is no stranger. No stranger than what? Oh, that's terrible. Such a pun. Here's the house. Not one cat, not one dog. I don't even see Mr. Tucker. I'll get out and look for him, shall I? I'll go with you. I do not volunteer. Howdy, folks. Glad to see you. Glad to see you. Hello, Mr. Tucker. Mr. Tucker. We're back. Glad to see you. Mighty glad to see you. We certainly appreciate you taking care of Bluff and Shakespeare for us, Mr. Tucker. I hope there haven't been too much trouble for you. Trouble? Did you say trouble? There ain't been no trouble, hardly. Where did you get the idea there was any trouble? Are they all right? Cat's fine. Tip-top. Here he is, fine. And Bluff, how's he? Bluff, is that what you call a dog, eh? Yeah, we told you before we left. David, didn't we tell Mr. Tucker Bluff's name? Well, yes, we told him Bluff's name was Bluff. Bluff, eh? Dang name slipped my mind. Might have helped some if I'd have remembered it. Well, how is he? Tell us, Mr. Tucker. Oh, it's a sincere Bluff you're talking about now. Yes, of course it is. How is Bluff? Well, there ain't no reason why he shouldn't be fine, too. Nope, no reason at all. Oh, that's wonderful. Nope, there ain't no reason at all why that dog shouldn't be just fine. Just fine and dandy. Well, nothing's wrong, is it, Mr. Tucker? Wrong? No, indeedy, nothing's wrong. Oh. What makes you think there's anything wrong? You folks just hold your horses a minute and stop rushing me and I'll get the cat. See, that's funny. Mr. Tucker looks as though he's limping. Mm-hmm. Do you think he's going to be as glad to see us as we are to see him, David? He'll be overjoyed. Mama likes to pretend that she doesn't love Bluff. I suspect she's a bigger bluff than Bluff is. You suspect wrong. Here comes your Tucker with Shakespeare. Oh, Shakespeare, you sweet old thing. Well, folks, here's your little cat. You give him right to me, Mr. Tucker. I'll take him on my nap. Here, kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty. And now Bluff? Where is he, Mr. Tucker? Bluff? That's that doggy of yours. Well, you don't have to get him yourself. You look all tuckered out, Mr. Tucker. Just tell me where you've got Bluff tied and I'll get him myself. Thank you, son. I've got this here limp, you see. Yes, I know. Oh, I hope it's not anything serious. Oh, nothing serious at all, Mrs. Naughton. At least, I hope it ain't serious. Just a favor in my right foot some. Seems to have twisted my ankle a bit. Then you stay right here, Mr. Tucker, and I'll get Bluff tied. You will not get him. I'll get him. I would have got him only my ankle, you know. Twisted ankle can be very painful. How did it happen, Mr. Tucker? Oh, far nothing at all. I got to climbing the wall in the back of the apple grove, back of the house. Of course, as soon as it happened, Delilah, my sister, she tells me I hadn't ought to have been climbing the wall in the first place. That's a woman for you. Thinks a man gets to an age when he don't know how to climb a wall. In fact, remains that you did twist your ankle. Why were you climbing the wall, Mr. Tucker? For the same reason a chicken crosses a road. Get you another facade, young fellow. Twisted her as neat as you'd twist a gooseberry off its stem, indeed. Well, your foot's not quite off its stem yet. You still seem to have it. Of course, it couldn't be more useless if I hadn't got it. Pain so much. But that's not the answer to why I was climbing the wall. I was climbing to get my shovel, which I'd left down in the apple orchard. If I hadn't had my hands so full of dog, I'd have brought the shovel back with me in the first place. What was Bluff doing in the orchard? That's what I was getting to, if you'd stop interrupting me. Well, we're not interrupting you, Mr. Tucker. You interrupted me right then. Well, I... You women get shows you don't know whether you're interrupting a man or not. As I was about to say, when that young ball wind tree I set out there two years ago got thrown down... Blown down? Was there a windstorm here while we were in New York? I said thrown down, not blown down. Oh. Oh, I don't know. A hurricane could have done more damage than that there dog of yours. You mean Bluff threw down your apple tree? With malice aforetold. Now, let me get this straight, Mr. Tucker. Wasn't anything straight about it. It was all in the heap it was. The dog and his chain twisted and snagged and snarled into it. Oh, you mean you tied him to the apple tree. Don't mean anything of the sort. I tied him to the range house and got for the chickens up on the other side of the barn. I don't think I follow you. I ain't hard to follow, but you should have been here to follow that dog. Well, let's go back to the beginning. There's no sense of going all the way back to the beginning. The real rip-snorting only commenced when I hitched him to the chicken house. And then what happened? What happened shouldn't happen to a chicken house. But what happened? They took off. What took off, Mr. Tucker? The dog and the chicken house. The chicken house didn't go so far as the dog. The chain broke. I am beginning to see the light. I'm confused. Well, I don't see the connection between all this and your ankle, Mr. Tucker. There was plenty of connection, altogether too much connection. You see, when I caught up with the dog, he was over across the wall in the apple orchard. So I tied him to that young bald-wing tree. Everything is becoming very clear to me now. And then what happened? Well, I had to hurry back to catch all the hens that were running around loose. The hen house being off its foundations, they took it into their heads to go places. Chickens is crazier than some people. And after you had corralled the hens, you... Well, that took quite a spell. After that, I went back to see to the dog. And then? Well, that brings us right to where we were when you interrupted me. The tree was thrown over in the dog and the chain, and the tree was snarled and snaggled and trust sweeter than you've ever seen a hawk-tie. And... Well, that's where I made my mistake. I unhitched the dog, but left him in the fix. He got himself in. I wouldn't be in the fix. I got myself in. Mr. Tucker, are you sure Bluff is all right? Is the dog all right? Is the dog all right? Who says anything about the dog not being all right? Well, why shouldn't he be all right? You know what comes from always looking on the dark side of things? What? Stop saying what and let Mr. Tucker get on. Well, I didn't get fur. Well, we haven't got to the shovel and the ankle yet, Mr. Tucker. Well, they're coming. I got the dog back, and this time I tied him to the house, figuring that he'd find that was too much to pull down. That's what I figured. That's what you figured? Yes. I figured it that way. David, I'm beginning to figure. Well, don't. Well, then when I got the shovel so as I could set the apple tree back into the ground, not just got her planted when there was a hoot and a holler from my sister Delilah up there to the house. So I come around him. That was when the ankle twisted. Nope, sonny. The ankle, the ankle, the ankle comes later. Well, let's get back to the house and Delilah's hoot and holler. Well, we're back to the house and there's a hoot and holler laying in front of you. We're getting close. Mr. Tucker, your porch railing is lying flat on the lawn. Yep, there she is. But that ain't all of it. You mean there's more to the story? More to the story and more to the rail. The big corner post be the stairs like the one that still stand there. That's the one that ain't. You mean Bluff pulled that down? Yep. He's a very naughty dog. Yeah, and now Mr. Tucker, the only thing that isn't clear, where is the dog? Well, that's it. Like I've been telling you, if I could find the corner post to my porch rail, I could find your dog, cause he's on the other end of it. You mean he's gone? He's run away? Well, I wouldn't exactly say that, Mrs. Notton. Just exactly what would you say, Mr. Tucker? Well, I would use another word than run. Walk, maybe, trudge, maybe, but not run. That corner post is a side heavier than you'd think. But he's lost. Well, Mrs. Notton, I wouldn't go quite so furs to saying your dog is lost. Of course, he ain't here. But there's a heap of difference between his being not here and his being lost. But for all practical purposes. He ain't here. David, something terrible may have happened to him. Bluff's a pretty big dog, darling, and more than likely he'll be able to take care of you. You haven't seen him since, Mr. Tucker? Nary, hide in the hair of him. Delisle and me, we're... Well, well, Mr. Notton, I kind of wished it was me wasn't here instead of your dog. Oh, but we're not blaming you, Mr. Tucker. David, where will we start looking for Bluff? Well, let's see. Let's try to figure it out. The first place I'm going to look is home. Come along, Mrs. Brown, and you hold on to your daughter. I don't want to lose her tonight. Hey, Bluff. Hey, Bluff. Come on, old boy. This is certainly a gloomy homecoming. Oh, where do you think he is? I don't know, darling. I hoped he'd be here. I don't think anything serious could have happened to him. Oh, he could have got that chain caught in the brush somewhere and be trapped. Well, what's a little brush to Bluff? Are you forgetting Mr. Tucker's chicken house, his apple tree and his front porch? Come on, you two. We'll open the door and get our things out of the car. And I tell you what. What do we do next? Well, you start dinner. I'll get in the car and then I'll drive around the countryside and I'll look for Bluff. Well, you might get lost. Well, don't worry about me. Oh, darling. David, what happened? What have you done? Have you hurt yourself? I am killed. Come on, you better sit down or something. If I've broken my ankle, I think I've rinsed it badly. Sit down and let me look at it. Ouch. Now, watch out. I tripped over something right here in the front door. David, watch out. Yeah, it's all right. It's all right. What's this? Say, that looks like... It's the post from Mr. Tucker's portraying. You know what that means? Bluff is home. Or he has been. Anyway, it's a good sign. You know, he's a very intelligent dog. Certainly is. Telephone. Telephone, David. Yes, that's the impression I got, too. Darling, this key, I never knew it to fail when you're in a hurry. Oh, let me help you. Hurry up. Hurry up. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. Hurry up. Hurry up. Hello, David Norton speaking. Who? Oh, Mr. Tucker. He is? Good news. Bluff just turned up at Tucker's place. Oh, then he's safe. And sound. And I have some news for you, Mr. Tucker. Yes, you remember that corner post from your porch rail, the one you haven't got? Well, in some unaccountable way, it is sitting on my front porch. Yes, yet... Well, I'll bring it back to you tomorrow. And look, Mr. Tucker, Bluff isn't tied to anything right now, is he? You took the chain off so you're sure he couldn't get tied around anything. I wouldn't want any more damage caused to your place. All right, thank you, Mr. Tucker. I'll get the car and bring him home. You'll do nothing of the kind. Why? Hey, Pup! Well, Claudia, the prodigal Pup returns. Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do. If you're like a lot of women who manage their own homes, you may have fallen into the habit of eating a hasty and not very appealing lunch. Here's a suggestion that will add considerably to your enjoyment of the noonday meal, and it doesn't involve a minute's preparation. Simply reach into the refrigerator for a bottle of ice cold Coke. Add Coca-Cola to your sandwich or salad or dessert, or salad or dessert and you'll find that you lunch refreshed. Well Mr. King that could have been a good deal worse couldn't it? So bluff turned up at last well I certainly was relieved. And I'll be relieved when someone else turns up at the Norton farm on Monday. Oh you mean Gertrude the plumber's sister-in-law and the Norton's new maid. Will she stay with the Nortons do you think Mr. King? Oh I really can't say Mrs. Brown. Now confidentially Mr. King and I promise not to breathe a word of this to anyone. Is Gertrude really a good cook? I'm sure I don't know but I promise you I'll look in on Monday to find out. You'll find me looking in ahead of you Mr. King. Well then good evening. Good evening Mrs. Brown and as I was about to say every day Monday through Friday Claudia comes to you transcribed with the best wishes of your friendly neighbor who bottles Coca-Cola. So listen again Monday at the same time. And now this is Joe King saying au revoir. And remember whoever you are whatever you do wherever you may be when you think of refreshment think of Coca-Cola. For Coca-Cola makes any pause the pause that refreshes and ice-cold Coca-Cola is everywhere. These programs star Katherine Bard as Claudia and Paul Crabtree as David and the entire production is supervised and directed by William Brown Maloney. And now here's a word from your friendly neighbor who bottles Coca-Cola.